Losers and winners of US talks with the Taliban

There are so many players on the Afghan political and security stage. This is particularly true with the presence of a large number of extremist groups on this stage.

The presence of these many players has its toll on Afghanistan's political future and complicates the situation there.

Meanwhile, the suspension by US President Donald Trump of direct talks with the Taliban and Trump's decision to pull US troops out of Afghanistan complicates the situation in Afghanistan even more. Trump's decisions leave behind a whole bunch of winners behind. It also creates a bunch of losers.

Internal parties

Conditions in Afghanistan will surely be affected by the deadlock in talks between the Taliban and the US. Here is a list of the parties that stand to benefit from this deadlock:

First, Afghan government

The government of Afghan President Ashraf Ghani is a prime recipient of US support. This is why some people describe it as Washington's arm. On September 8, Ghani's office said there could be no peace in Afghanistan while the Taliban continues to stage attacks. It added that the suspension of talks between the US and the Taliban came as a result of the Afghan group's failure to abide by ceasefire, describing this ceasefire as a cornerstone of peace in the country. The statement of Ghani's office came to assert hostilities between the government and the Taliban. The official spokesman of the Afghan presidency said, meanwhile, that the Taliban continues to kill the Afghan people under orders from Doha.

Controlling the scene

Direct talks between the US and the Taliban offered hints that the US was ready to break away from the Afghan government, Hassan Abu Taleb, an advisor of Egyptian think tank Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, said.

He told The Reference that the talks would have caused a civil war in Afghanistan.

"The talks would have empowered the extremist group against the government," Abu Taleb said. "The group would have taken revenge on the government for cracking down on its members."

A report by The Washington Post on September 15 criticized the US administration for letting down what it described as the loyal allies of the US.

It said the Afghan government was a backer of NATO in its war against extremist grops in Afghanistan.

Second, women and civil society

Studies about Afghanistan describe women as the biggest loser of the presence of the Taliban in Afghanistan. American media intensely discussed this issue as the negotiations moved ahead.

In July 2019, a United Nations delegation paid a visit to Afghanistan with the aim of backing the women of the war-torn state. The members of the delegation said peace would not be possible in Afghanistan if women were not a basic part of it.