Killing of civilians will continue by US troops in Afghanistan unless a political agreement to end the war is reached, Robert Naiman foreign affairs analyst from Just foreign Policy told RT. So far, the US is not serious about starting such a process.
RT:Again we’re seeing innocent civilians, including children, being killed by the US forces in Afghanistan by accident. Are we going to see any ramifications for this?
Robert Naiman: Well yes, absolutely, partly
because this is directly tied to what is in dispute between the
Afghan government and the US government as they are trying to
negotiate an agreement on what is going to happen to the US
forces after 2014, what they will be allowed to do. The Afghan
government does not want the US to unilaterally engage in
military operations in Afghanistan and particularly wants to end
all night raids. This event is an example of why the Afghan
government is so adamant about this. And events like this make it
less likely that the US and the Afghan government will be able to
reach an agreement.
RT:Yet despite all this, the US wants the
full immunity for its troops too?
RN: Well sure. Who wouldn’t if they can get it? As we
know these are the kinds of issues that prevented the
negotiations between the US government and Iraqi government from
reaching a successful conclusion. The US would be happy to keep
troops there on their terms. The Afghan government would be happy
to keep US troops there on kind of magical, unicorn fantasy terms
that they never kill civilians, they never do anything that the
Afghan government does not like. Those two things are in
contradiction. The US forces that magically do what the Afghan
government wants and doesn’t do what the Afghan government and
people don’t want. Those US forces, those magical US forces don’t
exist. If the Afghan people and government want to stop events
like this from happening, they are going to have to send the US
forces out of the country.
RT:If the agreement is not reached between
US and Afghanistan, can the Afghan’s handle the situation by
themselves?
RN: At the end of the story, the key question
is, is there going to be a political accommodation in Afghanistan
or not? If there’s not, the war is going to keep going one way or
the other, US forces and Afghan forces. People are still going to
get killed. For what reason, exactly, what is being accomplished
by keeping the war going? The US admits that in parts of
Afghanistan where they have been operating, the Afghan insurgency
is going to resume control when the US leaves. So what is the
point in continuing the war? Why not get a political agreement
that ends the war? The Afghan government has been demanding that
the US move forward on that. The US hasn’t moved forward, because
it is not ready, apparently, do the prisoner exchange that would
start the negotiations.
RT:Taliban is making more and more inroads, what
can be done about that practically?
RN: Well first of all, to accept it - that’s what can be
done about it. The US government admits that it can’t get rid of
the Afghan Taliban, can’t eliminate them, that the Afghan Taliban
is going to move back, even according to the US plans, they are
going to go from 50-60,000 troops now to maximum 12-13,000 if the
Pentagon gets its way.
RT:What do the Afghans themselves want?
RN: Currently, there is a division of opinion
there. There is no unanimity of opinion there. Some Afghans would
tell you that they want the US troops to stay but stop killing
innocent people, that is a contradiction. Those magical US troops
don’t exist. Other Afghans, you know there is a broad agreement
in Afghanistan that they want the war to end, they want the
political agreement that ends the war- that has been true for a
long time. Western media have reported that. That is what should
happen. There should be a political agreement to end the war.
After all, talks are happening now in ending civil war in Syria.
Why should there be a political process to end the civil war in
Afghanistan? A key obstacle is Western policy that has not move
seriously to start the talks, starting as I’ve said with very
simple step of exchanging the Afghan prisoners at Guantanamo for
the US soldier Bergdahl that is being held by the Taliban. As
long as that does not happen, we know that the US government
isn’t serious about a political process to end the war.
RT:There is a fourth presidential election
coming up in Afghanistan. How is that going to play out?
RN: The key thing now is that President Karazai
has said, whatever happens to this agreement should be determined
by the new President. The US is very much against that. They want
to get the agreement nailed down now, If it is not going to get
nailed down before the election, then this going to be a key
issue in the election, which would be great, because then the
Afghan people can decide what they want. Voters can say - are you
for it or are you against it? People can vote for the candidate
which has the position they agree with. So if you believe in
democracy in the Afghanistan, you should be delighted that the
agreement be delayed until after the election.
The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.