Sunday, July 01, 2018
Kabul (BNA) Speaking at a press conference at the Presidential Palace in Kabul, President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani said the ceasefire has ended and that Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF) were allowed to carry out aggressive operations across the country.
President Ghani also emphasized that government was working hard to achieve peace but that it had no plans to hand over territory to the Taliban. He made it clear that all Afghans want peace and that there is consensus, across the country and the region, on this issue
He said it was now up to the Taliban to join the peace process especially as they have to face especially as they have to face the Afghan people and religious scholars.
President Ghani said it is the “Taliban’s time to decide how they are going to deal with the situation.”
According to him, peace process efforts are ongoing, and government is trying hard to get results, “which is what the nation wants.”
“Dialogue is continuing, and progress is needed,” he said.
“The national has shown they are ready for peace, this is the greatest achievement. The ceasefire was a controlled experiment. The government is ready whenever the Taliban wants a ceasefire. The ceasefire was 98 percent successful,” President Ghani said.
He also stated that many Taliban members are tired of the war and want peace and that in turn the national showed that it is ready for reconciliation.
Pointing to Afghanistan and Pakistan negotiations, the president said the two countries to decide how to live together after solving Taliban issues and Afghanistan’s role for Pakistan as the crossroad of Asia to be explained.
“Paper-based agreements reached between the two countries and practical measures are yet to be taken. The Politics of last 40 years should be changed and Afghanistan’s national interest should be prioritized. This will lead to respecting the national integrity of Afghanistan,” the president told the reporters.
President Ghani went on saying that two countries are required to do more and bring about coordination on how to fight terrorism and extremism, adding Pakistan needed to establish relations with central Asian counties and that would be possible via Afghanistan.
“No one has monopolized Afghan People’s Jihad and the same should be with the peace process.
Peace with HIA was the initial step and the further steps to be taken in line with proper policies and strategies,” the president added.
The president went on saying that corruption, crime and breaking the law was inherited from the previous decades, adding Afghan government having firm will to end monopolization of peace and would never allow anyone to veto the process.
The president also said peace was only demand of Afghans, not the foreigners and asked Taliban to join the process.
The president announced a ceasefire on June 12- that was carried out over Edul-ul-Fitr. The Taliban also called a ceasefire over Eid, but only for three days.
Over Eid, President Ghani extended government’s ceasefire by 10 days. However, the Taliban failed to respond and immediately after Eid resumed attacks across the country.
