(The continuous blockade of the National Highway linking Kashmir with the rest of the world in spite of the best efforts of the Border Roads Organization calls for an alternate link)

It had the semblance of a play lacking key actors. They were deemed the difficult ones, and a decision was made to go through with the performance. The Taliban were willing to talk with their adversaries, but they were keen on doing so with opposition politicians rather than the stick-in-the-mud types in government led by the current President Ashraf Ghani. […]