Making of Peace: A Case Study of Geneva Accords

Abstract

On August 15, 2021, Taliban completed the occupation of Kabul, the capital city of Afghanistan. Since two decades, American forces were deployed in Afghanistan with the objective of promoting democracy, eliminating terrorism and securing peace in the South Asian region. After spending more than $ 2 trillion in Afghanistan and losing 0.15 millions of human lives with the aim to purge South Asian region from radicalism, America had to retreat to its home by seceding to the extremist forces. International agencies have frozen its aid and Afghanistan is at the cusp of socio-economic collapse. Human development indices is at the lowest. Mortality rate is high. Unemployment is at a record high. Education is no longer a fundamental right of girls. Hijab and burqa have become mandatory for women and basic freedom has been denied to Afghan women. The fall of democracy and the occupation of Afghanistan by a non-state extremist actor does not augur well for the South Asian region. The region that’s already a host to the fragile Pakistan State where military and non state actors rules the roost; an aggressive and expansionist China, a military State Burma, a constitutionally weak Nepal and an economically muddled Sri Lanka, the entry of Taliban has already made situation worse for India. In such a grim scenario, it becomes significant to study the reasons for the failure of political agreements that caused the fall of Afghanistan to extremist forces. The paper is based on a qualitative study that will deploy interpretative analysis to study why the peace making failed in Afghanistan. The case study is Geneva Accords signed in 1988.The paper will be largely helpful in understanding the causes for the fall of peacemaking agreements namely Geneva Accords and the collapse of democratic institutions in Afghanistan. It will also analyse why the Geneva Accords could not bring conflict to an end in Afghanistan. The paper will aid in policy formulation required by the international community to grapple the Afghanistan crisis and open the doorway to further research on ending conflict in Afghanistan. The paper is divided into following sections: Peace making : Its definition, prospects and challenges; analysis of Geneva Accords and its failure.