President Ashraf Ghani, who addressed a press conference with Federica Maria Mogherini, the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, in Kabul on Tuesday, said a big opportunity has been created for peace in the country and that this opportunity can only be used by the elected government of Afghanistan.
He indirectly pointed at recent pressures by some politicians and some countries in the region about peace and said that peace cannot be achieved through threats.
According to him, stability in Afghanistan is in favor of stability in the region and the world.
Ghani said the European Union has no other agenda than seeing peace and stability in the world.
He said the upcoming consultative Jirga will provide the opportunity for Afghans to decide on their future.
The High Peace Council last week announced that the consultative Jirga on peace will be held on April 29. Almost 2,500 delegates from across Afghanistan, 30 percent of them women, will attend the Jirga – which is an assembly of Afghans who will decide on the roadmap and red lines for the peace talks with the Taliban – who still refrain to attend the negotiating table with the Afghan government.
Ghani said Afghanistan is suffering from the violence which is the consequence of internal as well as regional and international conditions, adding that basis of the country’s foreign policy is creating a positive vision among the international community towards Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, Mogherini said the conditions for peace have been provided and that Afghans should move the process forward.
“Time has come for the Afghans, all the Afghans non-exploded to take the future of their country in their hands and for a peace process that can be really sustainable, we see the needs to meet some conditions to make any negotiation sustainable over time,” she said.
She said the European Union will continue supporting the Afghan peace and that there should be a ceasefire in order to move forward the peace talks.
Mogherini said Afghan women should have an active role in the peace process.
Reports indicate that Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday suggested an interim setup in Afghanistan as a possible solution to an apparent impasse in the ongoing peace process while blaming the Afghan government for the stalemate in talks.
According to the report, the suggestion came during Khan’s interaction with journalists at his office in Islamabad on Monday.
However, Mogherini, who visited Pakistan ahead of his visit to Kabul, said that Pakistani leadership “clearly” expressed their support to peace talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban.
Mogherini reiterated that the aim of the European Union’s assistance to Afghanistan is to help the country achieve peace.
“I will point on which the European Union will always be at the side of the Afghan people, never never leaving any of them alone. First of all, a ceasefire agreed by the Taliban, and peace talks with the Afghan government. Second, an inclusive negotiation team to be established with representatives of all Afghan society including women,” she said.
Mogherini said they discussed with President Ghani the need to uphold the electoral agenda.
“I would summarise it with one simple and very easy to understand sentence. Enter negotiations as if there were no elections, united as a country, and do elections as if there were no negotiations,” she said.
She said that the European Union will remain committed to help Afghanistan.
“We will be at your side in this difficult but important journey and we do as always all we can to accompany the Afghan people and their democratically elected institutions in this particular moment of their history,” Mogherini said.
The EU envoy also met with Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah ahead of his meeting with President Ghani.
She met with Tadamichi Yamamoto, the UN envoy in Afghanistan, and discussed joint efforts to support elections and peace process in Afghanistan.
