KABUL (SW) – President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani said on Thursday all obstacles hindering peace have been removed.
Ghani called on the Taliban to accept a permanent ceasefire and start direct talks with the Afghan government. "Peace is a divine thing and the aspiration of our people and our national ideal," the president said in a message issued on the occasion of the 101st Independence Day celebrations. "Achieving it is our mission and responsibility", he said.
The president said government is working on a peace plan that would bring peace for youth to engage in nation-building and allow all communities to live together in peace and harmony.
The troubled intra-Afghan peace talks were originally scheduled for Aug. 16, however, the Taliban see the halt in the release of 400 prisoners as an obstacle to the start of these talks.
The Afghan government has released 80 of the 400 Taliban prisoners based on the decision made at the grand consultative ‘Loya Jirga. The release of the remaining prisoners has stalled following reactions from a number of countries.
France and Australia are two countries that have called on the Afghan government not to release prisoners who have killed their citizens.
ENDS
