Ramadan truce and Taliban interests disturb Afghan scene before international meeting

Nahla Abdel Moneim

The situation in Afghanistan is raging due to the differences in political visions between current US President Joe Biden and his predecessor Donald Trump on ways to solve the crisis and establish real peace in the region, and with the arrival of the blessed month of Ramadan, the forces are looking to spread a temporary truce that gives some safety to Afghan citizens most affected by crises.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani called on the Taliban to stop hostilities and adhere to a truce during the month of Ramadan, saying in a televised message marking the beginning of the holy month that he calls on the movement to abandon violence and cease fire, stressing that this demand is the desire of the entire Afghan people.

Clerics in Afghanistan demanded that the Taliban cease fire during the month of Ramadan, but the movement did not show any approval for this request, which means tacit rejection of it and exposes the people to humanitarian crises.

It seems that the movement’s stance on fighting during the month of Ramadan has not changed from last year, as President Ghani had previously called on the Taliban to adhere to a truce last Ramadan, but it publicly refused and is now refusing to be content with silence about the demands to achieve peace even temporarily during the month.

Truce changes and political interests

The similarity of the Taliban’s positions regarding the rejection of the Ramadan truce does not necessarily mean a religious or combat stance, but it is only related to the political interest, as the movement had previously agreed to a truce during Eid al-Adha days before final agreements on the peace agreement that the movement’s leaders concluded with former US President Donald Trump in February 2020.

The movement is currently awaiting changes in the future of the agreement concluded with Trump since the arrival of President Biden, who is looking to maintain the conflict and provide a budget for the scene without giving precedence to a specific party, as did his predecessor, who completely abandoned the allied Afghan government and even pressured it to fully implement the Taliban’s conditions. Consequently, the political desires of the Taliban and their aspiration to change the visions presented will make them stick to fighting to show their strength and exploit the situation to put pressure on the parties concerned.

Biden’s changes, Taliban’s ambitions

The agreement concluded between the Taliban and Trump provided for a US military withdrawal from the country, which is the movement’s basic demand. However, Biden’s arrival to power confused the movement’s calculations. Biden stated on March 17 that withdrawing troops from Afghanistan completely by May 2021, as agreed upon, is difficult.

Biden criticized the agreement between the Taliban and his predecessor. saying that it was not negotiated in a solid way, pointing to the way in which Trump left the government and did not hand over power in the usual way between the two American administrations during the period from November 2020 to January 2021, so he was not able to obtain sufficient information regarding the agreement.

It seems that the current US president is adopting a different position regarding the situation in the country and intends to delay the withdrawal of military forces or at least impose more conditions on the Taliban. Biden decided in agreement with Turkey that the latter would host a peace conference in Afghanistan during mid-April 2021 with the invitation of the United Nations, along with representatives of China, Russia, Iran, Pakistan and India.

The Taliban’s position is still not specified in attending the meeting in light of the failure to resolve the matter and its demand for the US administration to abide by the February agreement. In light of these turbulent conditions, the movement’s abandonment of the fighting will not be on the table for it, because it wants to exert pressure in order to gain political interests that guarantee it control over the country.