M.D. Nalapat
Manipal, India —
The Pakistan army, through its spokesperson Athar Abbas, has publicly confirmed
that it is in touch with the senior Taliban leadership, including Mullah Omar,
Osama bin Laden's protector. Abbas has helpfully suggested that the army would
be happy to serve as the conduit for negotiations designed to facilitate a
cease-fire in Afghanistan.
This cease-fire
would give the Taliban unchallenged control over at least one-fifth of
Afghanistan, a wedge of territory from which the terror group could send out
its agents in preparation for future active hostilities. Thus far, despite the
seemingly boundless faith of the Obama administration in the Pakistan army, the
U.S. side has not accepted its offer to be a middleman in talks with the
Taliban.
Those dealing
with Taliban-linked terror groups in South Asia should keep in mind the example
of President Mahinda Rajapaksa of Sri Lanka. Aware that the Liberation Tigers
of Tamil Eelam invariably called for a cease-fire and negotiations whenever it
needed a respite, only to return to the battlefield after replenishing its
oxygen, Rajapaksa ignored calls from Britain, India and Norway, among others,
to declare an immediate cease-fire. Instead, he stopped the conflict only after
the LTTE had been comprehensively defeated after two decades of war.
The Taliban is
even more fanatic than the LTTE. Its cadres have zero intention of changing
their chemistry to join the flock of Afghani and Pakistani politicians milling
around the pickings of office. They seek the re-establishment of a medieval
state, and regard terror as a suitable instrument of war.
A cease-fire
with them – especially with the still-feared Mullah Omar – would demoralize the
Afghan forces battling them alongside NATO forces, and scare more Afghans into
acquiescence with their harsh primitivism. In particular, it would deal a blow
to the hopes of women in Afghanistan, who dread the return of a misogynistic
force that brutalized them at home and elsewhere.
