Stressing that it is necessary for all stakeholders of the intra-Afghan talks to understand that peace is “national” and not a foreign project, former president Hamid Karzai said on Monday that the talks have failed as it is not being owned by the people.
The former president called on the government and the Taliban to take the peace talks out of the “project” mode and turn it into a national and Afghan process, so that they can be concluded sooner.
He was speaking during the “Kabul Peace Symposium” organized by the Nation Party and added that Afghan people have been “pitted” against each other. “Let’s go to Bamyan. We have good hotels and the weather is good and there is no need for air conditioning,” he added.
Hamid Karzai also mentioned other provinces and said that these provinces could be the venue for negotiations. Karzai added that if the peace process is transformed from a project to a national process, the talks will be concluded as soon as possible
According to him, after securing peace, Afghanistan will be able to talk to its neighbors and the world with determination and independence.
The former president referred to the experiences of peace talks, including the World War II, and noted that large-scale wars such as the World War II ended in a short period of intensive negotiations and that Afghanistan peace talks should take place within a month or less.
Other speakers at the meeting also stressed on the need to “nationalize” the peace process.
