KABUL (SW) – President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani has said the spate of escalated violence by the Taliban has proven the legitimacy of democracy in the country.
Addressing a meeting as follow-up of the Geneva International Conference on Afghanistan, he said the world has come to understand that the Afghan government is facing a wave of terrorist attacks. According to the President, the world has sympathy towards Afghanistan as a number of the country’s religious scholars, civil society activists, journalists and scholars have lost their lives to terrorist attacks.
President Ghani added the national consensus for lasting and dignified peace has evolved into an international consensus as well as into an active diplomacy for lasting peace. The President emphasized that more violence by the Taliban would only further strengthen legitimacy of democracy in Afghanistan.
In his remarks, he said that there is now a need to increase positive pressure on the Taliban and its supporters worldwide. He emphasized that violence is not a political solution because achieving a comprehensive political solution requires that Afghanistan be independent and have national unity, and that every man and woman consider themselves the owners of Afghanistan.
Referring to a number of recently launched mega projects, President Ghani said large projects are getting launched on a daily basis. “16 years ago, if we were talking about the railway, all the people would shrug their shoulders … This year we will see rapid progress on these lines”, he said.
The President emphasized the most important point for the consensus of the scholars of the Islamic world is that the current war in Afghanistan has no legitimacy. According to him, Afghan scholars proved the illegitimacy of the war and convinced the greatest scholars of Islam around the world.
It should be noted that the level of violence in the country has increased since the beginning of peace talks and the release of Taliban prisoners. International organizations have also expressed concern about the escalation of violence in the country and called on the Taliban to reduce the level of violence.
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