Afghanistan a bridge too far for Indonesia

The group, identified as a terrorist organisation by the UN, has vowed to boycott the scheduled trilateral ulema conference among Indonesia, Afghanistan and Pakistan later this month in Jakarta. In a statement posted on its official website, the Afghan Taleban said the peace talks masked malicious objectives.
Jokowi, however, insists that the plan will go ahead despite the Taleban’s absence. He is eager to follow up on his visit to Afghanistan last month by offering himself as an honest broker for peace in the war-torn state.
Jokowi is seeking to advance his credentials as a Muslim world leader and peace-broker against domestic critics who brand him as anti-Islam, despite his past efforts to help the Palestinians and Rohingya. His 2019 re-election bid will receive a significant boost if he can bring warring parties in Afghanistan, who have been trying to crush each other for over 40 years, to the negotiation table to strike a peace deal.
The president, knowing the stakes are high for both his own political hopes and those of Afghanistan, is seeking to turn this mission impossible into a victory with the help of Vice President Jusuf Kalla. Kalla has experience as a peace-broker thanks to his role in mediating reconciliation talks between the government and Aceh separatists, and warring Muslims and Christians in Central Sulawesi.
Despite the noble aim, however, the government has to remember that the root causes of the protracted Afghan War are simply too complicated for Indonesia to unravel. Afghanistan is a far distant land ravaged by a four-decade war that even the intervention of major powers including the United States has failed to end.
Afghanistan is a bridge too far for Indonesia. 
The time has come to admit defeat and focus on a threat to regional peace that is more up close and personal for Indonesia. Ending the genocidal acts being perpetrated against the Rohingya in Myanmar is a far more urgent challenge for Indonesia.
Indonesia is among the few neighbours trusted by the Myanmar military and government, making possible access to Rakhine state, where the Rohingya population have endured atrocities and a campaign of ethnic cleansing. Indonesia has won the confidence of Myanmar’s military, whose generals learned much from their Indonesian counterparts, especially during the Suharto era.
Myanmar’s de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi has failed to halt the crimes against humanity not only because her military holds significant power but also because of the widespread hatred against minority groups in her predominantly Buddhist nation. As a leading member of Asean, Indonesia merits a key role in coordinating international peace-making efforts in Myanmar. Convincing the military to end the suffering of the Rohingya and restore peace in Myanmar is imperative for Indonesia.
Jokowi’s loud and clear support for Palestinian independence has won domestic and international praise, while his attempts to solve the Rohingya crisis, though a work in progress, are yet another landmark of his diplomatic record. Afghanistan, meanwhile, is simply too remote for Indonesia diplomacy to make a difference.