The Afghanistan Essays | From the Trenches to the Table: Waging Peace in Afghanistan

Date: January 23, 2018

This 2018 short-essay series by the Jinnah Institute (JI) reflects a range of Pakistani thought leadership on Afghanistan and it’s complex history with Islamabad. With the region in the current crosshairs of a seemingly intractable conflict, these essays attempt to spur old and new thinking on the history of Pakistan’s relationship with Afghanistan and existing challenges. The essays cover a range of subject matter on Afghanistan-Pakistan including efforts for peace and reconciliation, threats to security, the broader geopolitical dynamic, and the role of civil society and economy.

This essay titled ‘From the Trenches to the Table: Waging Peace in Afghanistan’ outlines a chronology of recent attempts to reach a negotiated settlement to the conflict in Afghanistan. Sixteen years since a fateful US invasion, the country remains in turmoil and violence is on the ascendance. This essay charts the progress made, and challenges that befell multi-party talks at Murree, the Quadrilateral Coordination Group (QCG), and more recent experiments in dialogue in the guise of Moscow and Kabul-led negotiations.