Politicians asked to reverse peace Jirga boycott decision

KABUL (TOLO News): Days after a number of politicians and political movements boycotted the upcoming Grand Consultative Jirga on Peace, President Ghani’s Special Envoy Umer Daudzai called on the opposition parties to reverse their decision and said the move in a sense is “disparaging” Afghanistan’s traditions and national prides.

Almost 3,000 delegates from around the country will attend the Jirga, which is a grand assembly of Afghans on discussing a “unified pathway” towards peace.

Chief Exertive Abdullah Abdullah’s election team, the Stability and Participation, as well as the former National Security Advisor Mohammad Haneef Atmar’s team, Peace and Moderation, are major tickets which so far have boycotted the peace Jirga. Other presidential candidates, Ahmad Wali Massoud and Rahmatullah Nabil, are also among the eight election teams which have boycotted the peace Jirga. Many of them have called the Jirga an “election campaign” and a “waste of time”.

“If some circles are concerned that God forbid, the government will manipulate the Jirga, let issue this judgment after the Loya Jirga. If after the Jirga their assessments showed that the government misused it, I will only support them in that case,” Daudzai reiterated.

“Peace will come, but peace is not something that you go to the market and do shopping and bring it home,” Daudzai added.

Members of the Peace and Rescue Council of Afghanistan, a Kabul-based political movement, at a ceremony on Tuesday said efforts should be focused on intra-Afghan talks and that there is an urgent need for Qatar meeting to be held as soon as possible.

“All warring parties should enter into an intra-Afghan talks and show flexibility for reaching peace,” said Musa Fariwar, member of Peace and Rescue Council of Afghanistan

This comes as the scheduled intra-Afghan dialogue in Qatar was canceled due to disagreement over a list of 250-member delegation offered by the Afghan side as the Presidential Palace put it last week.