Sultan Barakat

Inserted 2 years ago

“The speed of the Taliban's advance and the lack of resistance faced so far have come as a surprise to all sides including the Taliban leaders themselves. But this should not blind anyone to the fact that throughout modern history, no single political, religious or ethnic group, regardless of its size, has been able to enjoy full hegemony and legitimacy across a piece of land without reaching a political settlement with all other groups. The Taliban has made electrifying advances precisely because it has realised that it cannot hold and maintain control based on an exclusive narrative of Pashtun nationalism. Rather, local alliances are being made in the north with local Uzbek, Tajik, and other communities. Military force was never a solution in Afghanistan and cannot bring peace and prosperity to the country today.”

Aljazeera

Director of the Centre for Conflict and Humanitarian Studies at the Doha Institute