{"id":2205,"date":"2019-10-23T07:02:46","date_gmt":"2019-10-23T07:02:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.caps.af\/?p=2205"},"modified":"2019-10-23T07:02:46","modified_gmt":"2019-10-23T07:02:46","slug":"taliban-do-not-represent-pashtoons-bushra-gohar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/caps.af\/?p=2205","title":{"rendered":"Taliban do not represent Pashtoons: Bushra Gohar"},"content":{"rendered":"<p align=\"justify\">(Afghanistan Times): A female Pashtoon politician says that the Taliban \u201care not the representatives of Pashtoons\u201d in both sides of the Durand Line, and neither they \u201care representative of entire Afghanistan\u201d. In an interview with Afghanistan Times at the sidelines of Herat Security Dialogue-VIII, organized by the Afghan Institute for Strategic Studies (AISS), Bushra Gohar, Former Pakistan Member of Parliament, has talked about stalled peace process that is expected to resume in near future. She said there is need to define what we mean by peace. \u00a0\u00a0Peace is possible in Afghanistan when it\u2019s only Afghan-led process, she said, adding what \u201cwe saw in Doha, and what has been initiated by US, in my opinion not a peace process as it kept away the main stakeholders from it.\u201d The Afghan government and the Pashtoons in both sides of the Durand Line were out of the process, she said, adding that the Trump administration has decided to lead the process and talk with the proxies not to the main figures. \u201cThat\u2019s why it\u2019s a fallout process in my opinion. It will never work unless there is ownership of the main stakeholders, which is the Afghans, and the Afghan government,\u201d she added. It was a power negotiation process, she referred to talks between US Special Envoy Zalmay Khalilzad and Taliban negotiators. President Trump appointed Khalilzad as his envoy for Afghan peace, who held nine rounds of talks with Taliban. After almost one year of talks, President Trump called it dead after a Taliban bomber killed 12 innocent Afghans and one American soldier in downtown of Kabul. However, it seems the US has no good alternative, but to pick up where it left off, concluding an agreement that sets the stage for an intra-Afghan peace process. But, Bushra Gohar says it hasn\u2019t been so transparency from beginning, so \u201cwe don\u2019t know what has been agreed upon.\u201d \u201cThe propose I see behind it is to delegitimize the Afghan government, the Constitution and the people of Afghanistan. And this should not be accepted. The process has to start with the people who suffered in the war,\u201d she said. According to her, talks with Taliban and its proxy will not be useful rather it would be much better for US to talk with its sponsors.\u00a0 Giving safe zones to the Taliban is in contradiction with the Afghan Constitution, and Afghan people, she said, adding \u201cyou can\u2019t have parallel setups \u2013 this is also question about sovereignty of Afghanistan.\u201d \u201cWhy lands should be given to other stakeholders who don\u2019t represent Pashtoon tribes. This doesn\u2019t make scenes. I think this idea is also coming from outside, these proxies and sponsors are trying to impose the Taliban on the people of Afghanistan.\u201d He said if Taliban want to rule the country, they can do it through election. \u201cIf they win the will be in power \u2013 there is a process.\u201d She said that Afghanistan is not a cake that its pieces have to be handed over. US has always been short sided, she said, adding the US has been here for its own interests. \u201cThere was a time when Bonn Conference occurred, if US wanted could easily have started the peace process, why now. I don\u2019t think the US has plan to withdraw from Afghanistan, it will be small reduction, they might take some of their military.\u201d To be honest the Afghan security forces and the people are fighting this war in the frontline, she said. \u201cThey will continue as its their country, and they will fight for it.\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0In regards to Afghan election conducted on 28<sup>th<\/sup> September, she said outsiders wanted Afghan election not to be held until power sharing negotiation to happen. \u201cI am so very happy that the people went to election and voted. The election also held in all provinces of Afghanistan, so the myth often talked about that Taliban control Afghanistan was broken. And it was largely peaceful. It shows the Afghan\u2019s will for democracy to have due representation in the government.\u201d But still the Afghans have a long way to go as there was realization in previous discussions that Afghans are thinking about long-term. \u201cAt a time they are in war, still they are talking of development. And if it given an opportunity, the Afghanistan will soon be a developed in area,\u201d she added. However, she called on Afghan leadership to not wait for outsiders, and should take initiative of dialogue with Taliban to reach peace and stability. Regarding Pakistan\u2019s role in the peace process, she said Islamabad just imposing proxies who have had bloods in their hand. \u201cHow can you forget the victims in both sides of Durand Line, they have been destroyed, they have been displaced, they have been killed and have been abducted, so how can call it a peace process to not have main stakeholder on board,\u201d she questioned. It has been positions of proxies who have killed Pashtoons, and innocent Afghans, men, women and children, they need to described what they mean by this power sharing process, she added. In regards to Kabul and Islamabad tense relations, she said Pakistan has to changed its policy towards Afghanistan then actually then \u201cwe see a strengthen in the relations\u201d. If Pakistan see on Taliban, a small group of Taliban, not the entire Afghans, so the relation will not improve between Kabul and Islamabad, she furthered. She said that India and Pakistan have issues to be dealt with separately, and Afghanistan should not be used for. \u201cIn my opinion there much to be done, polices must be changed. Pakistan also suffering as a result of these wrong polices that must be changed.\u201d Moreover, she talked about PTM, an indigenous movement started by Pashtoon youth who have suffered and direct victims of long war. \u201cThey wanted to tell the world that Pashtoons want peace, they are not extremists, they are not terrorists, and they can\u2019t be represented by these terrorists.\u201d PTM have internationalized what the Pashtoons suffering in Pakistan for longtime, she adding, it got support from all oppressed nation, and many established leaders could not have done what they have done for the Pashtoons in Pakistan. \u201cThey have shown a beautiful picture of the Pashtoons.\u201d \u201cThey, PTM have challenged the narrative of the Pakistan state which has been Pashtoons are the violent, they like to fight. \u201cWe want peace, we want our children go to school, we want peace in our land \u2013 the land where Bacha Khan fought the British and non-violently. So it was always insulting us, we are the victims, and we are also called terrorists.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>(Afghanistan Times): A female Pashtoon politician says that the Taliban \u201care not the representatives of Pashtoons\u201d in both sides of the Durand Line, and neither they \u201care representative of entire Afghanistan\u201d. In an interview with Afghanistan Times at the sidelines of Herat Security Dialogue-VIII, organized by the Afghan Institute for Strategic Studies (AISS), Bushra Gohar, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2205","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archived-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/caps.af\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2205","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/caps.af\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/caps.af\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/caps.af\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/caps.af\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2205"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/caps.af\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2205\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2207,"href":"https:\/\/caps.af\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2205\/revisions\/2207"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/caps.af\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2205"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/caps.af\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2205"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/caps.af\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2205"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}