The Hill News

We have heard this story before. The “only solution” to the Afghan conflict is a political settlement with the Taliban. The adversary could be brought “home” under a national “reconciliation and reintegration” framework. There are “indications” that the Taliban are interested in dialogue. Allured by incentives, they would abandon their arms, and aims, and become constructive members of the society. They have always wanted to compromise but we never opened any doors. 

Yet, this pure reconciliation-based optimistic view of peace, like its opposite - the one that hinges solely on military successes - misses the point. It considers the two approaches â€" military and political - mutually exclusive. We however need to work on both approaches in tandem. This view also presupposes the primacy of approach over objectives. The approach should in fact be guided by our objectives and informed by the local context in Afghanistan.

The current approa! ch towards bringing peace in Afghanistan is flawed in its design because of three fundamental reasons:

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