News Analysis: Can new Afghan gov't solve Taliban problem?

Now that the Afghan election deadlock has been resolved by the two main presidential contenders with last Sunday's signing of an agreement on the formation of a national unity government, the topmost question among Afghans is whether this would signal the end of the Taliban insurgency in the country.

Some observers remain pessimistic, saying that the wily Taliban, far from being silenced, would further create more havoc to disrupt the government machinery that would result from the rapprochement of the two former political enemies.

In fact, the Taliban militants, in a statement sent to media on Monday, rejected the national unity government. It said that" Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai and the newly symbolic government won't be acceptable to the people of Afghanistan."

In their statement, the Taliban militants stressed that Afghanistan belongs to Afghans and the mujahideens or holy warriors would continue to fight until the eviction of all foreign forces from Afghanistan. "Since Taliban outfit is a war-mongering group, like in the past years it would continue to fight in future,"retired army brigadier Mohammad Jahangir told Xinhua recently.

Presidential candidates Abdullah Abdullah and Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai on Sunday signed an agreement on the formation of national unity government with Ghani Ahmadzi as new president and Abdullah as the country's chief executive, a post that is equivalent to prime minister.

Earlier, the Afghan Election Commission declared Ghani Ahmadzai as the winner in the vote audit edging out Abdullah, thus ending the longest electoral exercise in the country's history.

The new government to be led by Ghani Ahmadzai is set to take over from outgoing President Hamid Karzai on Sept. 29.

President-elect Ghani Ahmadzai, in his first speech to the nation on Monday after winning the election, promised to promote national unity and bring about peace, stability, economic development to the strife-torn county.

However, observers believe that convincing Taliban militants to give up fighting and join the mainstream Afghan society would be a difficult task even for the unity government. "The Taliban statement with regard to the new president and new administration virtually demonstrates its resolve for war," Jahangir said, adding that Afghans would experience more conflicts in the months ahead until winter when the insurgents usually take a respite from fighting because of the snowfall.

Meantime, some Afghan political analysts have urged the new president and new government to improve security by signing Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA) with Washington. "In my opinion, there are few issues that need to be prioritized by the new government and one of them is the BSA,"political analyst Nasrullah Stanikzai said in talks with local media.

He said that the signing of the BSA would pave the way for the continued support by the U.S. and other allied nations to Afghanistan, particularly in its security requirements.

Both Ghani Ahmadzai and Abdullah had promised during their electoral campaign to sign BSA. Karzai refused to sign the BSA despite Washington's repeated overtures. Under the BSA, the U.S. would be allowed to have a military presence in Afghanistan but on a limited scale. Their main responsibility is to train and support Afghan national security forces, a program that has been utterly disputed by Taliban militants.

According to the Taliban, with the BSA, the Kabul government would continue to be beholden to Washington and would look after the interest of the Americans, not of Afghans.