Peace by Piece

The Taliban angrily withdraws from talks with Kabul. The United States, the initiator, is preoccupied with fighting COVID-19.

- Pranay Sharma

COVID has a finger in every conceivable pie crafted by human hands. After disrupting the global economy, driving people into sickness, hunger, and unemployment and freezing social intercourse, it has begun to infect the stalled peace talks in Afghanistan.

The painstakingly calibrated peace talks agreed between the Taliban and the US broke down last week after the militia walked away from the table in protest against the Afghan government’s reluctance to release all “big commanders” of the group who are in its custody. Since then, the respective positions of the contending parties only seem to have hardened further. Of course, this could be a tactical retreat, as both sides try to create pressure on the other to force it to blink first, in the way of some compromise, before they resume negotiations. It is an old diplomatic ploy.

However, in this case, the COVID-19 pandemic has given a new twist to the situation. All parties in the negotiations are frantically busy finding urgent measures to halt the virus’s spread in their respective zone of influence. None of them are keen at this distracted juncture to return to negotiations in a hurry. Interestingly, the Taliban was due to send a large team to Kabul for talks, but ended up sending only a three-man delegation because of the coronavirus outbreak. A spokesman said the trio would monitor the prisoner release process and take the necessary technical measures.