Jason Criss Howk

15 May

A typical peace process takes many years, even decades, to reach an acceptable level of stability and security. I have been reiterating that Afghanistan will be no different, there will be fits and starts, stoppages, reverses, and re-starts.

That is NORMAL

Don’t lose sight of the long term goals.

The 29 Feb 2020 Kabul announcements between the US and the Afghan government, and the Doha agreement between the US and the taliban militia movement were only part of this long Afghan owned process. They were designed to set the stage for possible Afghan government-to-taliban movement direct talks.

So now we wait and watch, and see which side is actually working towards peace and which is working towards death.

Here is a simple score card I have developed to see who is following the 29 February process. This version ends its assessment on the 12th of May 2020.

The world should continue to pressure both sides to move forward on the peace process path, but should exert extra pressure on the side that is failing to move forward…and any nation (like Pakistan) that is supporting the violence.

After the terrorist war crime against the maternity ward in Kabul the Afghan government has, predictably, moved their security forces from the defensive mode to the offensive mode. If the taliban won’t lift a finger to stop other terrorists, or stop their own butchering of women and children, it shouldn’t surprise anyone that the Afghan government is going to step in to protect its citizens.

Continue watching, supporting the forces for good in the region, and fairly assessing who really wants peace.

#afghanPeaceProcess #Afghanistan #taliban #doha #pakistan #Kabul #Islamabad