Gulbudin Hekmatyar Proposes New Afghan Peace Plan

Hizb-e Islami Afghanistan Chief, Gulbudin Hekmatyar has announced a plan for the resolution of the Afghan crisis in which it is proposed that foreign forces should withdraw from Afghanistan by July. It has further been suggested that the military withdrawal should be completed within six months, and the security responsibilities should be assigned to the Afghan Army, and police. The present government should continue to work until a new government comes to power through elections.

However, a seven member national council, comprising of representatives from all the Afghan nations' ethnic groups should be set up, which may have the powers to take certain decisions. The presidential and provincial elections should be held on the same day.

US Exit Plan
Gulbudin Hekmatyar had repeatedly offered the US an honorable exit, but the US neither paid heed to his offer nor took into account the counsel of the people like the US Security Advisor, James Jones. James Jones had made it clear some months ago that Afghanistan can become the graveyard of hundreds of thousands of Americans, but it is not possible to defeat the Afghans.

At last, US itself realized its position by licking a rock like a fish and expressed its willingness to leave Afghanistan with bag and luggage. After all, what was the use of this adventurism in which blood of hundreds of thousands of Muslims was spilled. It not only got thousands of its sons killed, but thousands of mothers in North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) countries lost their dear sons while thousands of other women became widows.

Interest of Other Countries
US had come to Afghanistan in the 1980s to apparently assist the Afghan people after the end of the Soviet occupation. When its desire was fulfilled, it abandoned the area, and left the Afghan people in a lurch, and in a state of civil war either to kill or to get killed. There was bloodshed and killings. However, the Afghan people were fortunate that Taliban took over the helm of affairs, and peace prevailed in a larger part of Afghanistan.

At the end, the US ruined Afghanistan under the pretext of arresting Osama Bin Laden, and during all this Pakistan was also adversely affected. The war on terror is being fought in Afghanistan but it is Pakistan who has to pay the price. Now that the US is ready to hold talks with Taliban, and willing to withdraw from Afghanistan, the proposals presented by Gulbudin Hekmatyar are in the best interest of Afghanistan.

There is apparently no likelihood that any reservations would be put forward by the United States, Hamid Karzai regime, and other Afghan groups about these proposals. Implementation on these proposals will lead to the establishment of sustainable peace in Afghanistan in the wake of the US withdrawal, that is certainly in the best interest of other countries in the region as well, Pakistan in particular.