Besides the authorities from 70 countries, the representatives of international institutions such as the UN and the Organization of the Islamic Conference participated in the conference on Afghanistan held on January 28, 2010 in London Britain. At the aforementioned meeting, new strategies to end the war in Afghanistan were discussed. They took the decision of supporting the President Hamid Karzai’s plans on his struggle with corruption and “reuniting with Taliban on condition that Taliban is willing to reach its political goals through peaceful ways by cutting its ties with Al-Qaeda and other terrorist organizations”. Karzai’s negotiation plan promises Taliban members who will leave arms and be willing to integrate into the social life, security and employment. And thus, he envisages minimizing the Taliban threat. The international community decided to have a $140 million fund in order to implement this plan.
Before the London Conference and NATO Istanbul Summit, in his Afghanistan visit on December 22, 2009, Secretary General of NATO Anders Fogh Rasmussen stated that NATO forces should stay in this country until the Afghan National Army gets stronger. Rasmussen indicated that Afghan movement would gain acceleration in 2010 and highlighted that they would focus on sending additional forces to the country and reconstructing the country in order to help Afghan society. “Although we know that additional forces mean additional expenditures, retreating from Afghanistan is even more expensive.” said Rasmussen.
After Barack Obama expressed that he would send 30 billion additional forces as his new Afghanistan strategy, some members of NATO- such as Britain and Germany- indicated that they would send more soldiers to Afghanistan.
At NATO Istanbul Summit on February 4, the strategy for the coming period in Afghanistan was on the table. Besides Afghanistan, new goals of NATO and the finance of operations were discussed as an important agenda item.
In his statement before the informal meeting in Istanbul, Secretary General of NATO, as a reply to the people who claim that the world bribe the Taliban, said that they made this suggestion to Afghanistan as a way to end the war. Rasmussen also added that the $140 million new trust fund, which is for the plan of integrating the Taliban into the process, will be an alternative for the rebels.
Now there is a large operation in Helmand Province, which is in the south of the country, and tens of villagers have to leave their homes with their families. And the Taliban said that they were ready for aforementioned operation and they prepared a good welcoming ceremony for the American and British soldiers.
Today, NATO is having one of the biggest operations in Helmand Province. At the end of the NATO summit, Rasmussen in the context of the goals of current operations and NATO’s Afghan strategy for coming period, talked on NATO’s new strategies on Afghanistan and the date of retreat from Afghanistan by saying “NATO forces will have a large operation in Afghanistan against the rebels in near future and it is the main responsibility of Afghan forces, but NATO will help them”. “All decisions depend on the conditions in Afghanistan and there are many issues on which we cannot talk right now” said Rasmussen. Rasmussen also talked about the fund problem of NATO. And the President of Britain Gordon Brown talked on the Taliban operation of NATO by saying “We will break the war machine of the Taliban in Afghanistan”.
The retreat of foreign soldiers from Afghanistan is among the requirements of the Taliban.
And the official spokesman of the Taliban, Yusuf Ahmedi claimed that the negotiation plan of the enemy was just a deception. Ahmedi added that at the end of the meetings on the Afghanistan problem, the decision to negotiate with the Taliban was taken. At the end of the large military operation started with the aforementioned decision, “negotiation and large operation… The conflicting politics of NATO prove our argument. We stated that the calls of the enemy for peace were merely a deception and they aimed to deceive the international community. [1]
In consideration of these realities, while the Afghan administration has been talking about negotiation and peace with the USA and its allies, it has been planning to have a large operation on the other hand. According to this plan, they have two choices: “To fight or surrender”. In this context, if the Afghan administration, the USA, and its allies do not make a change in their strategies, and as long as there is not a change in the strategies of the Taliban, it is crystal clear that there will be more bloody wars in Afghanistan in the following years.
Khalilullah Rasuli, SDE Afghanistan Specialist
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[1] http://www.israhaber.com/taliban-sozcusu-ahmedi-helmand-operasyonunu-degerlendirdi-8380-haberi.html