News Analysis: Achieving peace in Afghanistan through talks requires more time than first expected

Peace talks between the Afghan government and the radical Hizb-e-Islami Afghanistan party led by Gulbudin Hekmatyar have reportedly broken down after three months following the latter insisted on new impossible-to-meet demands such as foreign forces pulling out of the aid-dependent country.

Some months earlier, the government peace talks with the Taliban outfit, backed by the Quadrilateral Coordination Group (QCG), which includes Afghanistan, Pakistan, China and the United States, had stalled due to the Taliban's refusal to come to the negotiating table with the Afghan government.

Although the government's desperate efforts to bring militant groups into the political fold and bolster the national reconciliation process have not delivered, political experts believe that convincing warring sides to settle differences through talks need more time than initially expected.

The Taliban, Hizb-e-Islami or any other armed group fighting the government to regain power, according to Afghan political observers, have no way to achieve their purpose through armed conflict and joining peace talks and negotiating settlement to the country's lingering crisis, remains the only option.

"We reached an agreement with the Hekmatyar-led Islamic party after almost three months of tough talks and I am hopeful to finalize the talks as soon as possible," a member of the government-backed peace body, the High Peace Council (HPC), Mawlawi Abdul Khabir Aqchon told Xinhua.

Aqchon, who is a member of the negotiating team with the Hekmatyar party, spoke with optimism about the peace talks, despite reports on the failed dialogue triggered by the militant groups' latest request.

"Peace talks with the Hekmatyar party have neither been broken nor suspended," Aqchon claimed, adding that the chief negotiator of the Hekmatyar party delegation, Amin Karim, would soon arrive in Kabul to overcome the challenges.

Earlier, the talks with Taliban militants have hit a snag as the stubborn armed group, as has been the case in past years, has predicated any talks with the government to the withdrawal of foreign forces from conflict-ridden Afghanistan, a precondition unacceptable to the Afghan government, which is largely dependent on foreign aid.

The general perception among Afghans, including observers and analysts, is that the insurgency-plagued country needs the continued support of the international community until it can function independently and bear the expenses of its own national security forces and generate its annual budget through domestic revenue, which will take several more years.

The Taliban, Hizb-e-Islami or any other armed opposition group, according to Afghan observers, will not join peace talks until and unless their financial resources are chocked and their sanctuaries and safe havens outside Afghanistan are destroyed.

Meanwhile, political expert and deputy to the High Peace Council, Ataurahman Salim, who has experienced holding talks with the Taliban outfit in the past, said recently that the Taliban militants had divided into several smaller groups and that the peace body has not yet approached them.

However, Salim was hopeful that the talks would eventually yield the expected peaceful results. Endit