KABUL (SW) – Amrullah Saleh, the first vice president, has said the forthcoming Istanbul conference on peace in Afghanistan would have three main agenda items.
He made these remarks addressing a public gathering in Koh Daman district of Kabul in support of the democracy. Saleh said an agreement on values, a ceasefire and the establishment of a peace government are among the agendas envisaged for the Istanbul conference.
According to the vice president, Zalmay Khalilzad, the US Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation, in his recent visit to Kabul discussed the three agendas of the Istanbul conference with Afghan government officials. Saleh said agreeing on principles and values means that the Taliban have to accept that Afghanistan will not be Talibanized again, but the Taliban can live peacefully in Afghanistan alongside other people.
Saleh said it was unclear how long it would take to agree on these principles, but until the Taliban accepted that they were part of Afghanistan and stop insisting to be the whole sole, the negotiations on the next steps would not go a step further.
Regarding the ceasefire, the first vice president said the Taliban must accept to ceasefire if they want the people to support the current peace process. “It is very difficult for us to make progress because under threat, suicide, explosions and killings,” he said.
According to Amrullah Saleh, the Taliban’s great fear of ceasefire is that if they lose violence as the only means of leverage, the Afghan government and the international community may not engage in serious dialogue with them. Addressing the Taliban, however, he said: “Today, I am calling on the Taliban from the position of a vice president; If you ceasefire, the seriousness of our negotiations with you will not diminish”, he said.
He added the government remained committed to serious negotiations, and if Taliban ceasefire and stop killing, the discourse of peace will be in the hearts of the men and women, and this process will get broad-based support.
The first vice president further said the release of 5,000 Taliban prisoners was one of the biggest mistakes of the government and said that it would never repeat such a mistake in the future. According to him, among the Taliban prisoners were major drug traffickers who were released from prison under the guise of members of the group in exchange for bribes to the Taliban.
Amrullah Saleh also said about the future government that in case of any possible agreement in this regard at the Istanbul meeting, they will again consult with different strata of the people through holding a consultative Loya Jirga.
ENDS
