Afghanistan's president has warned the Taliban it will "face consequences" if it doesn't embrace peace negotiations. Meanwhile, the death toll from last week's suicide truck bombing in Kabul has risen to more than 150.
Image: Reuters/O.Sobhani
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President Ashraf Ghani spoke Tuesday at the opening of the so-called "Kabul Process," an international conference aiming to set the stage for peace talks and restore security in Afghanistan.
Ghani told diplomats from two dozen countries, the EU, UN and NATO that he was prepared to give the Taliban one "last chance" to participate in negotiations.
"This is not an open-ended offer," he said. "Time is running out... this is the last chance: take it or face consequences."
Past attempts at peace have failed. The Taliban, who has been waging a 16-year insurgency and refers to itself as a government in exile, says it won't negotiate with Afghan officials until all foreign forces leave the country.
US-led international troops ended their combat mission in Afghanistan at the end of 2014, switching to a support and counterterrorism role.
In the two years since then, the Taliban has made steady gains, seizing control of several districts in different parts of the country.
"Taliban-sponsored terrorism is creating a platform that is bringing terrorists from all over the region to Afghanistan," Ghani said. "What we need is an agreement on regional security."
Highlighting the volatile situation in the country, a rocket struck an Indian diplomatic compound in Kabul as the conference kicked off. Later on Tuesday, a suspected bomb outside a mosque in the western city of Herat killed seven people, police said.
Afghans sort through the wreckage after an explosion at the historic Sunni mosque in HeratImage: DW/S. Tanha
Last week, a suicide truck bombing in Kabul killed scores of Afghan civilians. Ghani said the death toll in that attack had risen to 150, making it the deadliest single attack in the country since the 2001 US-led invasion to topple the Taliban.
The violence has added to mounting fears that the US-backed Afghan government cannot contain the Taliban or other Islamist insurgent groups without international support.
The US Charge d'Affaires Hugo Llorens, who is overseeing the American embassy in Kabul, said the Kabul conference was a chance to send the message that "the enemies of Afghanistan cannot win."
Thomas Ruttig, co-director of the Afghanistan Analysts Network, was less optimistic. "Signing mutual non-interference or anti-terror support agreements won't change anything," he said, noting that similar accords had been signed in the past.
nm/kms (Reuters, AFP, AP, dpa)
Endless battle for power in Afghanistan
Seventeen years after the US invasion of Afghanistan, the war-torn country remains in the grip of Islamist violence. A string of deadly attacks in the last year suggests militants are stronger than ever.
Image: picture alliance/Photoshot
Fragile security
Repeated attacks in Afghanistan in 2018 and 2019 have killed and wounded hundreds of innocent Afghans, and shown the world the fragile and worsening state of security in the conflict-stricken country. The incidents have plunged war-weary Afghan citizens into a state of despair and highlighted the limitations faced by the government in Kabul in ensuring public security.
Image: Reuters/M. Ismail
A long series of attacks
The violent incidents have made Afghanistan once again a staple of international headlines. Outfits like the Taliban and the "Islamic State" (IS) have claimed responsibility for the attacks. The Afghan government is under heavy pressure to restore security and take back territory controlled by a number of insurgent groups, including the Taliban and IS.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/M. Hossaini
Spring offensive
In 2018, the Taliban announced the start of their annual spring offensive, dismissing an offer of peace talks by President Ashraf Ghani. The militants, fighting to restore their version of strict Islamic law to Afghanistan, said their campaign was a response to a more aggressive US military strategy adopted in 2017, which aims to force the militants into peace talks.
Image: Reuters
Trump's Afghanistan policy
US President Donald Trump unveiled a new strategy for Afghanistan in 2017, vowing to deploy more troops to train and advise Afghan security forces. Trump also pledged to support Afghan troops in their war against the Taliban and maintain US presence in the country for as long as there was a need for it. In 2019, he reversed course and promised a troop pullout.
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Afghan peace process
Despite President Ghani's offer in February 2018 for peace talks "without preconditions," the Taliban had until 2019 shown no interest, dismissing the peace overtures as a "conspiracy."
Image: Getty Images/AFP/N. Shirzad
Pakistani support
Pakistan has been under pressure from Kabul and Washington to stop offering safe havens to militants blamed for attacks in Afghanistan, a charge Islamabad denies and insists that its influence over the insurgents has been exaggerated. Kabul and Islamabad regularly trade accusations of harboring the other country's militants and the harsh language has underscored the strains between them.
Image: DW/H. Hamraz
Role of the warlords
Apart from the Taliban, Afghan warlords exercise massive influence in the country. Last year, Hizb-i-Islami leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar returned to Kabul after a 20-year exile to play an active role in Afghan politics. In September 2016, the Afghan government signed a deal with Hekmatyar in the hope that other warlords and militant groups would seek better ties with Kabul.
Image: Reuters/O.Sobhani
An inefficient government
In the midst of an endless battle for power, President Ghani's approval ratings continue to plummet. Rampant corruption in the Afghan government and a long tug-of-war within the US-brokered national unity government has had a negative impact on the government's efforts to eradicate terrorism.
