Carrot and stick policy not to work in Afghanistan

ISLAMABAD – Recent developments implying mega shift in the US, Afghan policy aiming at luring Taliban are termed by some diplomatic circles prior to the latest advancements as “carrot and stick” phenomenon, on account of some ironical flaws evident in this futile exercise.
While a highly questionable and reportedly planted news item about a meeting of the UN Afghanistan’s Chief with the moderate Taliban of ‘Quetta Shura’ made headlines in local and foreign media, the secretive yet frequent meetings on intensive patterns between Indian diplomats and Afghan government officials have gone unreported, strangely.
This newspaper’s information indicates that over a dozen tiptoe meetings had taken place between Afghan diplomats and government officials with their Indian counterparts during last week. Senior UN officials were also reported to be the part of some of these meet-ups that discussed modalities of giving Indian presence a considerable space in Afghanistan. On the other hand, the insiders see the troops’ surge alongside dialogue as “carrot and stick policy” completely incompatible with peace efforts. “Dialogue process, additional troops, and military training programmes cannot go hand in hand. They (US) want peace with Taliban holding a machine gun in their hand! Is it going to work? I wonder if it ever does!” a credible European diplomat told this correspondent the other day.
One of the major hurdles that would keep dialogue process between Taliban and the US far from success is the increased reliance on Indian presence in Afghanistan. “Even the moderate Taliban are not ready to bear with Indian presence, let alone the ideological Taliban,” a Muslim diplomat said. “The other day I read in the newspapers that the US military believes eighty percent of Taliban are not ideological, what a deviation from the reality!” he added.
Informed circles see the ridiculous assertion regarding ‘non-ideological Taliban’ being in majority as ‘last straw of some losers’ to save their skin. Even moderate Taliban are not ready to comply with India due to the fear of massive fallout within their own ranks in case they resort such an audacious move. In addition, Indo-US nexus in Afghanistan is all about military build-up followed by economic motives, Indian forces seek direct role in Afghanistan for training Afghan troops and ‘striking peace on Afghan soil.’