Have the Hopes of a Political Solution to Afghanistan War Dashed?

Earlier in the month of Ramadan, the Afghanistan government had declared a unilateral ceasefire. Taliban responded to it by announcing a truce for 3 days. After that, while the Afghanistan government extended the ceasefire and also urged Taliban to do so, which they refused.

After 18 days of extension, now the Afghanistan government too has put an end to the truce. Ashraf Ghani said that the ceasefire was ”98% successful.” In 17 years of the timeline of the Afghanistan war, this was for the first time that Taliban agreed to a ceasefire. These 3 days of ceasefire by Taliban during Eid spread joy across the war-torn nation.

Ashraf Ghani further said that it was observed during the ceasefire that the majority of militants stood for peace. He also said that he is ready to extend the ceasefire whenever Taliban agrees to the same. The Taliban ended ceasefire last week and since then it has been catapulting attacks which have claimed several lives.

The Afghanistan government, as well as the United States, now feel that there can only be be a political solution and not a military solution to Afghan War. Announcing ceasefire and later the extension of it was aimed at urging the Taliban to negotiate. This is why Afghanistan wanted to persist with the ceasefire. But now when the Afghan government too has called off the ceasefire, it appears that political solution to the long-fought Afghanistan war is far away.

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