Re: Anti-talks Taliban ‘to face armed Imran’
Karzai played second fiddled to the US when the dollars were raining on Kabul and Taliban were weak. He kept quite for over a decade until one fine morning it dawned on him that the war waged in his country by the US was actually not meant to bring peace to Afghanistan. That only civilians suffered in this war and that the US was fighting for its own cause. “Modern and smart”? Indeed he is!
The situation has changed since then. Karzai has consumed his quota of presidency. He cannot be the head of his country for a third time unless Afghan constitution is amended. He has outlived his utility to the US and thus he wants to find new customers who could buy him and so that he could stay relevant to his country and to the world.
It would be naive to assume that he is protecting interests of his people by not signing the BSA. Karzai is actually bargaining to renew his own acceptability to the US and to the West. He has also come to realize that Afghanistan needs an indigenous political solution and the Taliban must be accepted as a legitimate stakeholder and partner in the future course of the country. The US wants the Taliban to come forward politically, but move back militarily. It’s now more about how much each party will concede and gain in the Afghan endgame. One thing is clear, be it the US, Karzai or Taliban, everyone is vying for the best face-saving arrangement for himself.