Ghani offers power-sharing to Taliban

KABUL (Pajhwok): As foreign forces leave Afghanistan, President Ashraf Ghani has offered the Taliban power-sharing if the insurgent movement renounces war. Ghani made the offer in a televised speech as the country marked Mujahideen’s Victory Day the toppling of the Soviet-supported government in 1992.

Lessons must be learnt from the bitter experiences of the past, stressed the president, who called for the demonstration of wisdom in the peace process. The president made clear: “No one in Afghanistan can impose their will on the people through war and violence.

He believed the time was ripe for the militant group to shun the war and turn to the democratic mechanism for power-sharing. As a result of the heroic jihad against the Soviet troops, Ghani said, Afghanistan slipped into chaos and destruction.

While linking mujahideen’s success to unity among the Afghans, the president hoped lasting peace could be achieved through national cohesion. Ghani met former president Hamid Karzai, ex-jihadi commander Abdul Rab Rassoul Sayyaf and High Council for National Reconciliation Chairman Abdullah Abdullah.

The current security and political environment of the country and national consensus on the peace process came up for discussion at the meeting. According to TOLOnews, the upcoming UN-led conference on Afghanistan in Turkey and ways of dealing with the situation after the US withdrawal were also discussed.