In a message honoring Saturday’s International Day of Peace, President Ashraf Ghani stated: “Afghanistan is closer to peace than ever, despite despicable agendas against security and stability.”
He credited the National Unity Government for its large effort over the past five years toward a “durable, dignified and just peace,” saying that the result has been a peace-focused “consensus among countries in the region, and beyond the region.”
For Ghani, celebrating the International Day of Peace signals a “fundamental human desire for harmony, dignity and prosperity,” but he added that making a durable peace requires “precision, courage and sincerity.”
“There is no doubt a real peace will be made, and will persist, when the people of Afghanistan achieve their rights without any discrimination,” Ghani said, reiterating that engagement in politics is essential: “The only way to solve decades of war is along a political path, and this requires investment in the political process, and support for the election and the government.”
He also stated that there is a need for a ceasefire first in order to achieve a “real peace.”
“We do not want to continue the war even for a minute if the Taliban wants peace,” Ghani said, because “war is not the solution.”
