What is the Taliban doing in Qatar?
On the 4th of January the Afghani Taliban reached an agreement with the United States which has allowed for the opening of an official Taliban office in Qatar. While the exact purposes of the office remain unclear it is likely that this new office will act as a consulate and central base from which the Taliban will conduct formal discussions with the United States government.
But what effect will this new office have on international relations? Afghan president Karzai is in favour of this new development but will the new office help to stabilize volatile Afghanistan? Or will this new consulate simply undermine the authority of the Afghan government?
Furthermore, does the Taliban, a disperate group with various factions, have the political authority to establish themselves as a legitimate voice of power or are they simply a terrorist organisation?
The United States government is hopeful that the establishment of an official Taliban office will facilitate new peace negotiations which could lead to a dignified withdrawl of American troops from Afghanistan in 2014. However, the Taliban is requesting, as a gesture of good will, the release of Taliban members currently being held in the US deterntion facility in Guantanamo Bay. But will the Americans agree to hand over their prisoners? And what is to be made of President Karzai’s plea that Taliban prisoners be first sent to the Afghan government?
Finally, what roles do Iran and China play in this new development? Will Iran, which has notoriously backed the Taliban in Afghanistan, be so pleased to see peaceful negotiations between the Taliban and the United States? Or are they, as the Washington Post claims, trying to encourage anti-American sentiment within Afghanistan? Finally, if this new office leads to a new peace negotiation and the full withdrawl of US troops, what will happen to the devastated infrastructure within Afghanistan? Surely Afghanistan will look to China as well as to Iran for development aid. China has already been granted access to 87 million barrels of Afghan oil. Will China now also be offered major development contracts within Afghanistan? If so, how will this affect the economies of these two countries?
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