OP-ED

Civil Society Key to Afghan Peace

Talks don’t need Taliban, Pakistan to succeed.

The key to successful peace in Afghanistan isn’t including the Taliban or Pakistan in negotiations, rather it’s the civil society that has been growing in the country, writes Nader Nadery in Wednesday’s Wall Street Journal. Since the ouster of the Taliban 12 years ago, the country has its own growing civil society of humanitarians, women’s political campaigners, newspapers, and more. Rooting out corruption with watchdog groups and newspapers, fighting honor killings with public meetings—these are the types of actions that will help oust the militants forever. It seems that Afghan President Hamid Karzai may finally be getting the message—he recently condemned Pakistan and the Taliban.