The latest in a long line of high profile “global conferences” on Afghanistan to be held in European cities, the conference beginning Monday in Bonn, Germany aims once again to get a handle on the ever-struggling Afghan occupation, and planning for the post-2014 future.
German FM Guido Westerwelle says the goal of the conference is “a peaceful Afghanistan that will never again become a safe haven for international terrorism.” Over ten years into the NATO occupation, this seems incredibly unlikely.
And no one is seeing much hope for the Bonn Conference either, with an emphasis on reconciliation with the Taliban coupling with no actual Taliban attendees in an exercise in futility.
Failure is such a foregone conclusion in the conference that it comes complete with its own scapegoat, as officials were already calling Pakistan’s refusal to attend (it is protesting over the deadly US attack on their military bases) a major blow to its chances of success.
The Bonn Conference was doomed to fail before it began. Why? Well, it has been disclosed that unmarked Russian aircraft has been busy bombing Afghanistan…yet again! Also, Russian advisers have been traing Northern Alliance tank crews while their sol,diers from the 201st Motorized Rifle Division based in Tajikistan are fighting alongside the Northern Alliance against the Taliban. From Moscow's perspective this is an anti-Pashtun war. Russia fears that a Taliban (who are predominantly Pashtun) victory could infect or induce restive elements inside Central Asia to rebel against their represive Commnunist dictatorships and will go to any length to prevent this eventuality.
Like it or not, the Taliban are the majority ethnic group in the country were the ones to resist Soviet aggression while the minority now called the Northern Alliance collaborated with the Soviets. A minority rule therefore willn never be accepted by the people of Afghanistan.