Ghani asks Taliban to enter into decisive peace dialogue

• Afghan president shares a brief outline of his govt’s vision for peace

KABUL: Afghanistan’s President Ashraf Ghani on Wednesday again invited the Taliban to enter into purposeful peace negotiations with the government in Kabul and to stop waging war in the country.

He spoke at the closing session of a two-day consultative meeting on peace where he outlined his administration’s vision for durable peace in the country. The meeting was held ahead of the next week meeting, a gathering of 23 nations, including the UN, European Union and NATO, which is intended to discuss security and political issues

President Ghani stressed the need for more efforts to be made to further promote rule of law and the reform process in the country. “We will give them (Taliban) options to decide, they must think whether they have the intention to surrender to the will of Almighty Allah. Do they realise the expectation of the people or not,” he said.

CEO Abdullah Abdullah said that there should be a dignified peace which involves all. “When we say dignified it involves even those who are fighting and then denounce the war and halts relations with terrorist groups and say that I am coming to join my people, his dignity must be persevered,” he said.

Wrapping up the meeting, the delegates issued a 14-item declaration in which they encouraged insurgents to join the peace process. “Our demand from the Taliban is to stop paving the way for the meddling of intelligence agencies of regional and ultra-regional countries in Afghanistan by continuing the war,” said Haleema Sadaf, one of the participants.

President Ghani went on to say that his administration would announce its peace and war strategy at the upcoming Kabul Process conference in Kabul, adding that the government would call on the Taliban to choose between peace or war. “People have consensus, those who think that they can pursue their objectives in the conflict, they must rethink their approach. The nation will not allow anyone to create conflict,” he said.

At the meeting, the Afghan government will try to create a regional and international consensus on the peace process in Afghanistan. The Taliban has steadily expanded its reach since US and NATO coalition formally concluded their combat mission in 2014 and transitioned their military mission to a support and counterterrorism role.