pakistani342
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Article on RT here, excerpts below:
Afghanistan is in a terrible situation as the Taliban remains strong, and the fact ex-warlords are in the new government of the country is not much better, Phyllis Bennis, Director of the Institute for Policy Studies, told RT.
RT: The US is delaying withdrawal from Afghanistan due to the Taliban making advances. Do you think they can ever make peace in Afghanistan without reaching some kind of a deal with the Taliban? Is it even possible at this point?
Phyllis Bennis: I think there is no possibility of anything remotely resembling peace without negotiations. The US was not able to impose peace when it had 100,000 troops on the ground at one time in Afghanistan with another 45,000 international NATO troops. Now when it has 11,000 troops and about 2,000 international troops it certainly isn’t going to be able to militarily impose anything remotely resembling peace. What we will see is a gradual erosion of the security situation even further. The people in Afghanistan are facing a horrific escalation in violence already and I'm afraid it’s going to get worse. The possibility is going to be there for a negotiated settlement, it’s not a good thing. The Taliban still represents an extremist version of social life that they would impose where they are in control. But of course we have to take into account that the current government of Afghanistan - new President, new Prime Minister are not - is also made up largely of former warlords who themselves share many of those same very misogynistic anti-women and socially very backward, in my view, views on human rights. So when we look at the Taliban it’s a terrible situation, but when we look at the government and in particular the warlords’ presence in the government of Afghanistan, it’s not much better.
Afghanistan is in a terrible situation as the Taliban remains strong, and the fact ex-warlords are in the new government of the country is not much better, Phyllis Bennis, Director of the Institute for Policy Studies, told RT.
RT: The US is delaying withdrawal from Afghanistan due to the Taliban making advances. Do you think they can ever make peace in Afghanistan without reaching some kind of a deal with the Taliban? Is it even possible at this point?
Phyllis Bennis: I think there is no possibility of anything remotely resembling peace without negotiations. The US was not able to impose peace when it had 100,000 troops on the ground at one time in Afghanistan with another 45,000 international NATO troops. Now when it has 11,000 troops and about 2,000 international troops it certainly isn’t going to be able to militarily impose anything remotely resembling peace. What we will see is a gradual erosion of the security situation even further. The people in Afghanistan are facing a horrific escalation in violence already and I'm afraid it’s going to get worse. The possibility is going to be there for a negotiated settlement, it’s not a good thing. The Taliban still represents an extremist version of social life that they would impose where they are in control. But of course we have to take into account that the current government of Afghanistan - new President, new Prime Minister are not - is also made up largely of former warlords who themselves share many of those same very misogynistic anti-women and socially very backward, in my view, views on human rights. So when we look at the Taliban it’s a terrible situation, but when we look at the government and in particular the warlords’ presence in the government of Afghanistan, it’s not much better.
