Afghan Parliament attack: Why has Taliban backed out of peace talks?

New Delhi, June 22: The Taliban has claimed responsibility for the attack on the Afghan Parliament. The six gunmen believed to have carried out the attack on the Afghan parliament have been killed, reports state.

The Taliban claiming responsibility for the attack was on expected lines as it has intensified attacks after it launched its Spring Offensive.

This attack probably one of the most audacious in recent times was a message to the Afghan government. The Afghan Government has not been able to bring the Taliban on board for peace talks.

Moreover the Taliban wants to take the government head on and would try and avoid any pact or truce for various reasons. The Taliban does not want to be a parallel government in Afghanistan- It wants to be the only government.

No peace talks with the government:

The Taliban has clearly said no to any truce with the Afghanistan government. While there have been efforts on to bring the Taliban onboard, the group has extended its hands to Afghan technocrats and also the various splinter groups.

This serves as a two-edged sword for the Taliban which has been gradually talking over pockets in the country where it realizes the government is not too strong. On the other hand, the Taliban also creates a parallel government by speaking with rivals of the government and in the long run would look to rule the nation independently.

The Taliban on the other hand is facing an internal crisis for not doing much. There has been a lull in their activities and this has made several commanders question the strategy of the outfit.

The Taliban wants to go out all alone in Afghanistan and needs to instill confidence about the same in its commanders as well. Hence at this moment, the question of peace talks do not arise as several commanders doubt the intentions of the government.

The Afghan government on the other hand has not dealt directly with the problem. The Taliban does not trust the ISI entirely and the fact that the government was trying to broker a deal with the Pakistan spy agency too has not gone down too well with the Taliban.

Need to pull up their socks:

The last thing that the Taliban wants is to end up being a stooge of the government and the ISI. This prolonged silence by the Taliban waiting for its international mediators to hold talks with the Afghan government has paid no dividends.

While the moderate Taliban feels that a deal with the government is good, there is a majority which opposes this. The Taliban wants fight it out alone and does realize that it needs to beat down the Afghan government failing which the nation will end up having two parallel governments.

Further this lull for such a long period has let other groups take advantage. A strong Taliban is unbeatable and there is none who knows the in and out of the country better than they do. However due to the extended lull, there were several disgruntled commanders who left the group only to join with newer outfits such as the ISIS.

Taliban is split three ways:

According to the Intelligence available, the Taliban today is split three ways. It would do everything to ensure that the three factions come together and fight against the Afghan government. There is one faction which is still loyal to Mullah Omar and this is the group that continues to be the strongest today.

The other faction is which has joined the ISIS and formed the al-Khorasan while the third are leaning towards the Afghan government.

While the Mullah Omar faction waited for too long to make any move, it was the ISIS which came in and lifted the morale of the fighters who were itching for war. As a result of this a large number of Taliban commanders joined the ISIS in Afghanistan.

The recent developments of staying away from the Afghan government and also holding peace talks with rival factions and splinter groups is an interesting development. The Taliban appears to be trying to become one single force and ruling the country.

OneIndia