Tide Finally Turning from War to Peace in Afghanistan

It has taken a deadly decade that has cost taxpayers a half-trillion dollars, but the tide is finally turning toward peace in Afghanistan for everyone involved, including the U.S., NATO, Afghans and the Taliban. Here's the untold story of the progress of peace in Afghanistan, and a powerful way you can be part of it.

Over the past few months, as mainstream media has been reporting on the military offensive and its casualties, I have been reporting on a parallel and equally important offensive and its affirmation of prosperity on Change.org that has been kept in the shadows until now: the peace efforts by Afghan and UN officials, as well as citizen diplomats, with the Taliban and other militants. They are beginning to bear fruit and, at last, receiving the attention they deserve. Amazingly, the U.S. and NATO suddenly appear open to these peace efforts as well, all of which points to the power of peace work and peace journalism as transformative global forces.

Today, former Afghan President and leader of the recently established Peace Council, Burhanuddin Rabbani, announced that the Taliban "have some conditions to start the negotiations process. It gives us hope that they want to talk and negotiate. We are taking our first steps … I believe there are people among the Taliban that have a message that they want to talk. They are ready."

Earlier this year, U.N. Counter-Terrorism Chief Richard Barrett, in my Change.org interview with him, said that the only solution to the Afghanistan war was a political one. His almost blasphemous prediction then is coming true as you read this.

What's even more surprising is that U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates now seems just as open to the talks as the Taliban, as long as they are led by the Afghans themselves. Even NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said that the military alliance is helping the Taliban meet with the Afghan government.  When, this past July, I wrote on Change.org that "'My friend's friend is my friend' is a neologism that isn't coming too soon, but at last, between the Taliban and the U.S." because high-ranking officials let it anonymously be known that peace talks with U.S. consent were on their way, it sounded almost treasonous. The close to 600 people who have signed the petition to pressure President Obama to withdraw responsibly from Afghanistan are on the verge of triumph. You can be part of it, too.

As Afghan President Hamid Karzai convened the Peace Council late last month, he wept as he called on Afghans to "come to your senses ... you are witnessing what is happening on our soil and only through our efforts can our homeland be ours." He deserves, perhaps, the world's gratitude, for the months of tireless effort he has made toward reconciliation with the Taliban, and peacebuilding in his country, including attracting foreign aid and capital from China, the EU, and elsewhere. After extended preparations, the initiative began with holding "Peace Jirgas" across the country, at which time I reported as follows.

"A thick line has been drawn in the rocky sands of the Afghan mountains. On one side are the insurgents and warlords who are willing to sit down and talk through the pressing problems facing them, their constituents and their country, spearheaded by Afghan President Hamid Karzai. On the other side are the Afghan militants who refuse to do so and are committed to violence as obstinately as the U.S. military, all the way up to its Commander in Chief, President Obama."

The paradox of the war continuing under the name of peace became clear during President Obama's recent primetime declaration about the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars. However, and I say this with great hope and hesitation, this paradox is apparently actively being addressed and resolved for the benefit of all involved.

Since the 1,000th American soldier death mark was reached earlier this year, just around the time U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met with Karzai at the U.S. Institute of Peace, we have learned that Al-Qaeda was a pretext for the invasion not a just cause, in parallel with the Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs) pretext for the Iraq invasion; and that there are over a trillion dollars of minerals to be exploited in Afghanistan, again with a parallel to oil in Iraq.

These are significant facts that we need to keep in mind, lest the sought-for peace in Afghanistan (as important as it no doubt is) becomes a deceptive smokescreen that can cause the repetition of the war mistake yet again with Iran and its nuclear plans as pseudo-motive for natural resource exploitation.  We must remain vigilant, make our voice heard, and keep the pressure for peace on or else another catastrophe of historic proportions can occur.