News Desk |
On Friday, President Ashraf Ghani announced that the Afghan government has released 175 Taliban prisoners as a “gesture of goodwill” and is willing to undertake action on the remaining recommendations put forward in the resolution of the Peace Jirga. While addressing the closing ceremony of the Grand Consultative Jirga, Ghani said that Kabul is willing to announce a ceasefire if the Taliban show willingness to do the same.
Tolo News quoted Ghani’s announcement, “I am ready to implement your (Peace Jirga delegates’) legitimate demand which is a ceasefire. I see the courage and power in the National Defense and Security Forces lines to implement the discipline of a ceasefire. If the Taliban is ready for a ceasefire in a way, we can work on technical details of it.”
Ghani put forward a “friendly suggestion” to the Taliban, offering to “provide the ground for Taliban to be part of the country’s development”. He announced the release of 175 Taliban prisoners and asked the Taliban to dispatch a delegation to Kabul or any other Afghan province so these prisoners can be handed over.
Read more: Afghan president offers Taliban new provisional ceasefire
Afghan President Ghani stressed that peace in Afghan will aid economic development in Pakistan and added that the Afghan government seeks a relationship with Pakistan based “on mutual respect and friendship, which is clear and is an equal government-to-government relation.”
Abdul Rab Rasul Sayyaf, head of the Peace Jirga, called upon the Taliban to listen to the Afghan people and join hands with the government to develop the war-torn country. He called upon the two parties to agree on an immediate ceasefire from the 1st of Ramadan and to ensure that the basic human rights of all Afghans, including women and their rights to education amongst others, must be preserved by the peace process.
The delegates of the Peace Jirga called upon all parties and nations to aid the Taliban in establishing political offices in Afghanistan and prepare a timeline for a “responsible” withdrawal of foreign forces.
Read more: Tell Americans not us to put down arms: Afghan Taliban to…
Taliban Rejects Loya Jirga
The Taliban have announced that they are committed to the peace process and are attending the sixth round of peace talks in Qatar to bring an end to the US occupation through negotiations. They have refused to hold dialogue with the Ghani-led government, and despite the recent concessions and release of 175 prisoners, Kabul is still being dismissed for being a “U.S puppet”. The Taliban also refused to attend the Loya Jirga, which was attended by 3200 Afghan politicians, religious leaders and other influential individuals from various provinces.