US-Taliban talks key to ending Afghan war

This week, representatives from the Taliban, the United States, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have reportedly gathered in the UAE to discuss the now 17-year-long war.

This latest round of talks were only expected to be held on Monday but stretched on through Tuesday, according to The New York Times.

While the Taliban has indicated its desire to see the withdrawal of U.S. forces, other attendees are reportedly pushing for direct talks between the Taliban and the government of Afghanistan.

While there is certainly much more work that must be done, for those who have grown weary of American involvement in a two decade-long conflict with no obvious objective in mind, that there is dialogue at all between the U.S., the Taliban and countries near Afghanistan is an important step forward.

The human and financial toll of the war in Afghanistan has been staggering.

According to the Costs of War Project out of Brown University’s Watson Institute, over 147,000 lives have been directly lost due to the war in Afghanistan, including the lives of over 2,400 members of the American military.

The war has also created over 2.6 million refugees, 1.84 million internally displaced people and hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers, researchers note.

While hundreds of billions of dollars have been spent waging a war that has long since devolved into a stalemate, it was reported earlier this year that the ongoing costs of the war are $45 billion a year.

Yet for all of that, the Special Inspector General for Afghan Reconstruction reported on Oct. 30 that the government of Afghanistan has actually lost ground in terms of Afghan districts it controls or influences.

“Notably, Afghan government control or influence of its districts reached the lowest level (55.5 percent) since SIGAR began tracking district control in November 2015,” the report noted.

At the same time, SIGAR noted that despite billions of dollars in American counternarcotics spending, “the country remains the world’s leading producer of opium, with production hitting an all-time high last year.”

While it’s too soon to say that we’re much closer to ending the war in the near future, President Trump reportedly told Sen. Rand Paul, RKentucky, earlier this year of his interest in withdrawing American forces from Afghanistan.

This was followed up in September with Trump’s appointment of former Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad as U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation.

Khalilzad has reportedly had numerous meetings with the Taliban in recent weeks, including those held this week.

These are positive signs that the wasteful conflict in Afghanistan might soon come to an end. Given how little has been accomplished to date, and how little political will there is to nation-build in Afghanistan for another 17 years, we hope that a peaceful resolution can come soon.

— Orange County Register, Digital

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