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AFGHANISTAN-CONFLICT-PEACE
Afghans call for ceasefire as huge peace summit wraps up
KABUL, May 2, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Afghan officials called for a ceasefire
Thursday as a huge peace summit wound down in Kabul after thousands of
delegates spent days discussing possible conditions for a peace deal with the
Taliban.
This week’s “loya jirga”, or grand assembly, saw more than 3,000 religious
and tribal leaders, politicians and representatives from across the country
gather under tight security to discuss the possibility of peace.
The Taliban, who were not at the talks, are this week separately meeting
in Doha with US peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad in a bid to make a deal with
Washington that could see the withdrawal of foreign forces from Afghanistan.
While the full results of the summit may not be announced until Friday,
several committee leaders said they wanted to see an immediate pause in
violence, which has continued apace across Afghanistan even with various
peace summits taking place.
“Every day, Afghans are being killed without any reason. An unconditional
ceasefire must be announced,” said Mohammad Qureshi, head of one of the
jirga’s many committees.
Huge swathes of Afghan society worry that if the US does make a deal with
the Taliban, the militant Islamists would try to seize power and undo
advances in women’s rights, media freedoms, and legal protections.
The Taliban has steadfastly refused to talk to the Afghan government,
which it views as a puppet regime.
That means that even if the US and the Taliban can agree to a deal to end
the war and a timetable for an eventual troop withdrawal, the insurgents must
still forge some kind of an accord with Afghan politicians and tribal elders
before an enduring ceasefire could kick in.
“We dont want such a peace that women’s rights are not respected, freedom
of expression are not ensured, elections are not held,” committee member
Faizullah Jalal told the summit.
Several delegates also rejected Taliban and opposition calls for an
interim government when President Ashraf Ghani’s term expires this month.
“It is you who will show the government the way towards peace and the
government will do what you demand,” jirga chairman Abdul Rab Rasul Sayyaf
said.
“No one will impose anything on you.”
Several opposition figures had boycotted the assembly, complaining it
amounted to a political rally for Ghani, but Sayyaf said the summit was not
aimed at supporting any particular candidate for the September presidential
elections.
The loya jirga is a centuries-old tradition in Afghanistan that has been
convened at times of national crisis or to settle big issues.
BSS/AFP/MSY/1411 hrs