People Decide on Afghanistan’s Future, Not other Countries: Ghani
Afghan peace consultative Jirga officially opened Monday, attended by president Ghani, second VP Sarwar Danish, Abdul Rab Rasul Sayyaf, and dozens Political and Jihadi figures from across the country. This Jirga which has 3200 delegates in attendance will continue for four days.
Afghan peace consultative Jirga officially opened Monday, attended by president Ghani, second VP Sarwar Danish, Abdul Rab Rasul Sayyaf, and dozens Political and Jihadi figures from across the country. This Jirga which has 3200 delegates in attendance will continue for four days.
President Ghani addressed the delegates and said that the peace Jirga should have been held sooner to end the war and to determine the road map for peace.
“The Loya Jirga (grand assembly) has always been held to solve a major crisis and we hold this national tradition to end the war in the country, hoping to see the end of the war,” Mr Ghani said.
Referring to peace talks with the Taliban, he said that “the people have the authority to negotiate with the Taliban, not Arg (presidential palace) or any other country”.
“Taliban Should negotiate with the people and government to witness peace across the country,” he added, stressing that “no country has the right to decide about (Afghanistan) future, the people have the authority to decide about their future”.
He also said that short-term pacts for peace are not acceptable to us. We learned from history that we have to reach a permanent and inclusive agreement. The continuity of the war in the country, except for the negative results, has no other achievements.
“If peace is not ensured in our country, we will fight stronger than ever and will sacrifice ourselves for our country,” he said. “Your government is supposed to formulate and arrange a policy of negotiations based on the words of three thousand people gathered in this large national room. This is far better than to be in the monopoly of 15 people, who are six km away from Arg and not connected to the voice of the people,” he stressed.
According to him, Loya Jirga will facilitate the voice of the people.
The peace consultative Loya Jirga was boycotted by political parties, presidential election candidates, civil activists and women rights, and some institutions, arguing that this Jirga an election campaign by Arg, not efforts to reach peace.
Taliban had also reacted against the Jirga, saying that this Jirga will put developments of peace talks in danger.
Rasool Shahzad – DID press agency
