Writing in the Mail Today, EWI board member Kanwal Sibal questions recent U.S.-NATO moves to negotiate with the Taliban and argues that a strategy of reconciliation threatens India.

Sibal, a former Foreign Secretary of India, suggests that Obama’s strategy in Afghanistan is based on internal U.S. politics. Further, he argues that it helps Pakistan restore its influence in Afghanistan and validates violent extremism.

“With the public support for the war in Afghanistan waning in the U.S., the state of its economy making the cost of the war increasingly burdensome and its electoral calendar imposing a short deadline for finding a “solution”, the Obama Administration’s policy in Afghanistan has wavered,” writes Sibal. “The unwillingness of key European countries to expend more human and material resources there has added to the confusion. The most disquieting upshot of these pressures is the western acceptance of the policy of reintegration and reconciliation with the Taliban.”

Sibal further argues that Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who has long advocated reconciliation with the Taliban, may be overplaying his hand. “Why should the Taliban accept the leadership of a Karzai whose Pashtun support base remains feeble and whose western support base has slipped badly? Why should they be willing to share power with him?” he asks.

The timeline for withdrawal of coalition troops is too short to deliver a peace dividend and bring the Taliban to the negotiating table, Sibal suggests. “Can better governance be provided by the Karzai regime by July 2011, the date when the US intends to draw down its forces in Afghanistan? Can economic development reach all corners of Afghanistan?” he asks, adding: ‘Good governance, economic development and building up of capable and effective armed forces and police is a work of many years not a mere 18 months.”

Finally, he laments the possible involvement of Saudi Arabia in the negotiations. “The mediatory role is being given to the most conservative Islamic country, one of the three that recognized the odious Taliban regime,” he writes. “Given the close nexus between Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, is it conceivable that Saudi Arabia will not closely consult Pakistan and indeed help advance its interests in Afghanistan? In fact Pakistan will automatically get a role in these parleys with the Taliban as these groups are located on its territory and have close links with the ISI.”

Sibal concludes: “All this shows once again that the fight against terrorism remains is not a collective one despite the rhetoric. The Taliban Foreign Minister, Muttawakil. complicit with the the IC-814 hijackers, has been removed from the UNSC terror list without regard to Indian sensitivities. The conditions for the spread of an extremist version of Islam in our region are being created by this willingness to reconcile with the Taliban, with long term consequences for India’s security.”

Click here to read Sibal’s article in the Mail Today.