New Gov’t to Call Loya Jirga for Consensus on Peace: Daudzai

M. Umer Daudzai, president Ghani’s former special envoy on peace said at a conference in Kabul that the new president will call for Loya Jirga (grand assembly) for consensus on peace two weeks after the swearing-in ceremony. He also said that the leadership council of reconciliation will be reconvened.

M. Umer Daudzai, president Ghani’s former special envoy on peace said at a conference in Kabul that the new president will call for Loya Jirga (grand assembly) for consensus on peace two weeks after the swearing-in ceremony. He also said that the leadership council of reconciliation will be reconvened.

Umer Daudzai said at a press conference on Sunday afternoon that the government’s position on the peace process has not been properly grasped and the government’s plans have been conceived as “campaign”.
“The government’s priority is securing peace and ready to negotiate with the Taliban without any conditions, but ceasefire is the demand of the Afghan people,” he stressed. Adding that “ceasefire is the will of the people. The (past) Loya Jirga urged the president for a ceasefire and we have to pay attention to the will of the people”.

This comes as the Afghan government officials have repeatedly insisted that a ceasefire must be announced by the Taliban as a precondition to talks with the Taliban.
Mr Daudzai also said that a national consensus on the peace process formed in the past Loya Jirga, but a Political Consensus must be formed.
“The problem of the Taliban is not with a person but with the System and the Republic. The leadership council of reconciliation will soon be revived,” he added.

In this regard, CEO Abdullah Abdullah has recently announced that putting precondition for beginning the Government-Taliban talks indicate a lack of commitment and delay in the peace process. Last week, he said at the council of ministers that the government should have conditions during the talks not before starting the talks.
Abdullah had previously said that as part of the national unity government, he was ready to enter into unconditional talks with the Taliban.

With all these, the Taliban are not ready to sit around a table with the Afghan government or to announce a ceasefire. The group’s precondition for direct talks with the government and ceasefire is the withdrawal of foreign forces from Afghanistan.