'US to fail in bringing Taliban to talks'

Press TV interviewed Habib Hakim, a political analyst in Kabul, to share his thought on his view concerning the Taliban-US talks.

Press TV: What do you see happening in Afghanistan? Is there a reason for Taliban to come to the table and talk to the United States?

Hakim: The United States has tried to conduct efforts to bring the Taliban back to the political process and into normal life in Afghanistan over the past three to four years. The Taliban has frequently rejected talks with the United States and its allies, [and] with the government of Afghanistan. The first condition for Taliban is for the foreign troops to leave Afghanistan, and after that they will be ready to talk to the government of Afghanistan. And they know that if the foreign troops leave Afghanistan, the government of Afghanistan cannot resist against the Taliban and they will come back to power. But this is a theory in the United States that they can negotiate with the Taliban and they will bring the Taliban into the peace process in Afghanistan and into political life in Afghanistan.

But I think that the things are not going in favor of the United States and that things are absolutely different on the ground in Afghanistan. The Taliban has expanded their activities over the past three to four years in Afghanistan, and they are threatening the US and the foreign existence. And now they are a serious threat to the Unites States and to the government of Afghanistan, and they believe that they will ultimately win the war against the United States and its allies, and they believe that the United States cannot stay in Afghanistan for a long time, and they cannot fight against them for a long time under the current circumstances in Afghanistan.

They believe that they can attract more people to them and they can increase their military activities against the foreign troops in Afghanistan. Because of this, I think the Taliban are not ready to join negotiations with the government of Afghanistan or with the United States, but I think that still the United States believes that there is an opportunity to talk with the Taliban, because the United States says that the Taliban is under military pressure in Afghanistan and it [forces] them to accept the negotiations and to accept the United States or the government of Afghanistan's conditions, and ultimately they will join the peace process in Afghanistan. But I think the realty on the ground is absolutely different.


Press TV: Do you think that the average Afghan in your country believes that the US-led forces are there for their own purpose or there to help the Afghan people? Our guest in Chicago talked about war fatigue being the state of affairs now in the United States. What about your country that has witnessed so much war?

Hakim: If we talk about the support of the people of Afghanistan, the United States or the foreign troops in Afghanistan, we have to consider that there are two kinds of people in Afghanistan, or two parts of the people in Afghanistan.

The majority of the people of Afghanistan, of course, do not support the Taliban movement in Afghanistan. But if we talk about the southern provinces or the eastern provinces of Afghanistan, the majority of the people are supporting the Taliban in these provinces. If we are talking about the northern provinces of Afghanistan, or the central provinces of Afghanistan, the majority of the people in these provinces are not supporting the Taliban, because they suffered a lot during the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.

A lot of them have been killed by the Taliban insurgents in the 1990s, and when the Taliban captured some of the northern provinces, or the central provinces of Afghanistan, they committed genocide in these provinces.

But the Pashtun tribe or the Pashtun people in the southern part of Afghanistan and the border area with Pakistan and tribal areas inside the Pakistani territory, are supporting the Taliban. It means that the Taliban have the sources to support the Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan, and they are against foreign troops in Afghanistan. Because of this we cannot say in general that the people of Afghanistan, or the majority, are supporting the Taliban or not. There are differences between the people of Afghanistan towards the Taliban movement.