Qatar’s intervention in the Afghan Peace process is failing as violence increase

On October 21^st the Taliban killed at least 25 more Afghan security force staffs.

The question is: is the Intra-Afghan peace talks only going to grant the wishes of the Taliban?

Ever since the Intra-Afghan peace talks started, there have been many violations from the Taliban’s side. They have killed Afghan civilians, including women and children as well as the Afghan military forces across Afghanistan. Around 5000 Taliban members were released from prison by the government of Afghanistan as a condition for the peace talks and they have returned to the battlefield and are now fighting again, against the government and the people of Afghanistan.

While one of the wishes of the Taliban group was to release their prisoners, the wish and an important point for discussion from the Afghan Government was to have a permanent ceasefire. The Afghan government so far freed 5000 Taliban members from prison yet still the attacks from the Taliban on the Afghan military forces and civilians continue on daily bases in several provinces of Afghanistan. Who is going to ask for an answer about this and why is the Afghan Government not pressurizing Taliban to grant the wishes of Afghan people too?

The Afghan people have been witnessing statements made by representatives of the Afghan government in the peace talks and also statements from Qatari government, which, says that the discussions with the Taliban in Qatar so far have been very positive. Civilian causalities that include women and children in Afghanistan and the killings of the Afghan security forces by the Taliban show the situation on the ground completely opposite of “Positive”.

While two Taliban members who brutally murdered a French woman named “Bettina Goislard” who was a UN refugee worker were released from the prison in Wardak province of Afghanistan, six other members of the Taliban group out of which, two were involved in the killing of French and Australian soldiers were transferred to Doha on a special plane to be kept in restraint in Qatar.

Considering these violations and the merciless actions of the Taliban group, why does Qatar still fund and support the main office of the Taliban in their country? This is very worrying both for the government of Afghanistan and the citizens.

Many countries like France and Australia stressed their disagreement to any release of the Taliban prisoners. While the French and the Canberra governments repeat their strong disagreement to the release of the individuals who were sentenced for committing crimes against their nationals, especially those who were humanitarian workers, the Qatar governments hosts them and the US representative on Afghanistan (Zalmay Khalilzad) states that the (big picture is to end war). The question is, why are the Afghan Government, the United States government and the Qatar Government keep failing when it comes to ending war and terrorism in Afghanistan? More importantly, why is it the Qatar government, who should keep the freed Taliban in detention in their country?

In the beginning of the negotiations between the Taliban and the Afghan government, the citizens of Afghanistan were given hope, but after seeing a great rise in violence and attacks by the Taliban, people are starting to feel hopeless again. Especially seeing how third parties like Qatar intervene in the Intra-Afghan peace talks. The interventions of the Qatari government are creating a fear among the people of Afghanistan about the possibility of more violence by the Taliban on Afghan people. If the permanent ceasefire was on the agenda to be discussed, just like the freedom of 5000 Taliban members, then it should be discussed and occur as soon as possible without intervention of a third party.