Making Peace with Broken Pieces Afghan Peace Process

摘要

"There is nothing further here for a warrior. We drive bargains; old men's work. Young men make wars and the virtues of war are the virtues of young men; courage and hope for the future. Then old men make the peace. The vices of peace are the vices of old men; mistrust and caution. It must be so". Prince Feisal (Sir Alec Guinness) to T. E. Lawrence (Peter OToole) in the movie Lawrence of Arabia. In the last few months, a new window opened in the seventeen years old war in Afghanistan. There was breakthrough with first serious efforts of direct negotiations between the United States (U.S.) and the main militant group, the Taliban. It was President Donald Trump's announcement of withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan that got the ball rolling. He made this decision without consulting any other government agency. Pentagon, the intelligence community and State Department view rapid withdrawal as a recipe for disaster. Trump appointed former U.S. envoy to Afghanistan and an Afghan-American Zalmay Khalilzad, nick named Zal, to spearhead this effort. Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Qatar worked as intermediaries and a bridge between Taliban, Pakistan and the Americans.