A new option in Afghanistan

While President Obama ponders over the divisive issue of sending more troops to Afghanistan; he has made one thing clear to the Afghan government. In an interview with ABC news channel, he stressed that the Afghans must share the burden of their own security, indicating that Washington is not looking at an indefinite stay in Afghanistan.

Similarly, after addressing his war cabinet, which had met to discuss the deployment of tens of thousands more troops, he declared that the US commitment to Afghanistan was "not open-ended." The remarks were apparently meant as a wake-up call for the Karzai government, which would like to enjoy the security provided by the US for an indefinite period.

The highly corrupt and inefficient regime has, so far, failed to pay serious attention to raising an Afghan army capable of defending the country's integrity and helping to establish the writ of the state all over Afghanistan. The remarks could also have been directed to elements among the militants who might be willing to negotiate peace with the US.

In an interview with the CNN, former Taliban foreign minister Mullah Wakil Ahmad Mutawakil has revealed that important elements in Taliban want to take part in talks with the US, provided the latter assured that it would quit Afghanistan. Aware of US concerns regarding al Qaeda once again turning Afghanistan into a safe haven and a springboard to launch terror attacks across the globe, Mutawakil explained that the Taliban did not share al Qaeda's global agenda of terror and unlike the latter, were not a threat to world peace.

In other words, they had a localised, rather than an international agenda. This is a new development, but keeping in view the Taliban's past record, much more than a simple claim would be required to prove that they have made an ideological break with their erstwhile mentors and financiers who they refused to hand over or expel after Nine Eleven. Equally significant is Mutawakil's claim that the Taliban are willing to soften their rigid ideology.

While maintaining that the shariah would be enforced in Afghanistan if the Taliban came to power, he clarified that girls would be allowed to pursue education in segregated institutions. Coming as it does at a time when the Taliban chapter in Pakistan is torching girl's schools in the tribal areas, it would be difficult to take Mutawakil's statement on its face value.

Meanwhile a report appearing in Washington Post on Tuesday, indicates that a shifting of power dynamics, and consequently, parting of ways, has taken place between the Taliban and al Qaeda. The report maintains that the Afghan Taliban are financially and organisationally much stronger than al Qaeda, which according to an unnamed senior US intelligence officer has been left with fewer than 100 members in the country.

According to the report, Mullah Omar's faction is confident that it can operate on its own while al Qaeda has become dependent on Jalaluddin Haqqani's faction. Unlike Bin Laden who supports terrorist attacks that kill civilians and has a sectarian agenda, Mullah Omar's faction has issued a rulebook, this year, calling on activists to protect the population and avoid civilian casualties.

Similarly, the group is advocating Muslim unity and maintains that the Taliban "respects all different Islamic schools and branches without any discrimination." In a written statement reportedly issued in September Mullah Omar declared, "We assure all countries that the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, as a responsible force, will not extend its hand to cause jeopardy to others."

If Mullah Omar and his followers had pursued the political line they are advocating now when they were in power, Afghanistan and Pakistan would have been securer and much stronger countries today. There is a need on the part of the Pakistani Taliban to review their ideological position in the light of the development.

The terrorist attacks on innocent citizens and security agencies forced the government to order a military operation first in Swat and then in Waziristan. Despite losing badly, the terrorists have failed to learn a lesson. They have instead intensified attacks on civilian population while they are now targeting security forces in Mohmand Agency, where 10 soldiers were killed and several kidnapped on Wednesday.

The operation against the militants, conducted after much hesitation, enjoys the support of the Parliament and the general public. There is still time for the TTP to renounce militancy, lay down arms and join mainstream politics. Pakistan is a democratic country, where all political groups have the freedom to propagate their ideas peacefully and to enforce them, in case they enjoy a majority in parliament.