Doha is calling

As the post-withdrawal scenario unfolds both Kabul and New Delhi are increasingly edgy about the Afghan Taliban's say in the future of their country. Can you secure a peaceful and stable post-2014 Afghanistan without Taliban the one-word answer is a big no. And this, history's mightiest military force has learnt first hand, and accepted its reality on the ground. Kabul's share in the rout is even greater, but it refuses to accept the reality - and the refusal is endorsed by none other but New Delhi. Deeply concerned over attrition-free retreat from the battlefields of Afghanistan the officials of the United States and its allies in the Afghan war are of late bee-lining to the region, almost exclusively geared to convince the stakeholders, both real and fake, of the futility of keeping the Taliban out of the peace process.
That the Taliban are indispensable to the Afghanistan imbroglio they are saying so in so many words - and by concrete action. But for this realisation this was just not possible to put on ground the Doha peace process. How to subvert this move both Kabul and Karzai are working hard. While US Vice President Joe Biden is essentially on a business trip to India - he wants Indians to buy American nuclear plants and grant greater access to markets - his hosts seem to be asking for more engaging role in Afghanistan. They want Karzai to continue - with the United States always standing at his back in post-2014 Afghanistan. Not that they have such great love for the Afghan president, but for his propensity to be used against Pakistan. Joe Biden is being asked: "why the Americans have handed over the keys to the Pakistani generals". No wonder then the Indians opposed the Doha process, and now that effort is being made to revive it they are working hard to scuttle the move. Of course, Hamid Karzai is opposed to the Taliban coming back into Kabul as part of the Afghan future, irrespective of the aisle they sit in the parliament. But his stiff rejection is as much embedded in his fears, and ambitions, as in consonance to the 'advice' from New Delhi. He first used pressure: to wean the United States from Doha process he suspended the security talks. And now he is "ready to sign a security pact with the United States, on the condition that it leads to peace and stability in the country, strengthening of forces and a united strong Afghanistan". Will his magic work, it's for President Obama to decide - who seems to be absolutely fed up with Karzai's antics and had threatened 'zero option', that's complete troop withdrawal and a curtain on American interest in the future of Afghanistan. There's no denying the fact that the 'strategic depth' doctrine was popular with a section of Pakistani strategists. But the aftermath of the Soviet Union and Afghan Jihad brought home falsity of this thinking; Pakistan was burdened with millions of Afghan refugees and then came in to remnants of the Afghan Jihad. And in the process Pakistan has suffered as much Afghanistan if not more as the collateral victim. Therefore, this visit of PM's advisor Sartaj Aziz and an invitation to President Karzai, a move by the new government to assure most unequivocally that future of Afghanistan is in the hands of people of Afghanistan and it's they who have to decide it. That a peaceful Afghanistan is the best option for Pakistan it has been learnt the hard way. Since Pakistan has been an abiding second home for millions of Afghans ever since the Soviet invasion it is only natural that some sections of the guests enjoy confidence of the hosts. And it's for this affinity that Pakistan government is partly instrumental in shaping up the Doha process. But nothing beyond that and this is what Sartaj Aziz has conveyed to Karzai and others in Kabul during his recent visit. But in the wake of developments as the post-withdrawal scenario plays out, Hamid Karzai finds Doha as a warrant of his political demise, his trepidation adequately raised by New Delhi. One expects the international community to see through this game and take steps to ensure that Doha peace process comes alive. That's the only option, which can greatly help peaceful withdrawal of the coalition forces leaving behind an Afghanistan appropriately prepared to national reconciliation to take roots and work for the general good of all sections of its polity. That the US should leave behind military presence only to keep away the Taliban and others only to secure the Karzai system from Kabul it will not work. If Vice President Biden wants Afghans talking to the Afghans about how they can move forward, end the violence and start building their country then time has come for this and the table to sit around is in Doha, the glittering capital of Qatar.