“Peace negotiations door never closed; we are under an undeclared war, says President Ghani”
By Farhad Naibkhel-Kabul: President Ashraf Ghani ordered that three commissions must be formed to find out what really caused the fall of Kunduz city and how its fallouts could be addressed.
Addressing a joint press conference along with key security officials here on Thursday evening, Ghani commended security forces for putting the Taliban to rout and clearing Kunduz of militants. He ordered the formation of commissions to address the biggest ever collapse.
President Ghani said that the three commissions include security commission, civilian commission and probe commission.
He said that security commission has already been established and started its work. Security commission will monitor all the routes leading to Kunduz city. It will devise how to blocks the loopholes to make it impregnable for the militants to infiltrate into the city.
The civilian commission has been formed and already started its work. This commission will assess casualties in Kunduz and devise strategy for the return of the displaced families.
“Investigation commission, will be formed and start its work soon to probe what exactly caused the fall of Kunduz,” the President added.
Ghani highlighted that after findings of the investigation commission, those found guilty of neglect will be punished according to the law and those who performed well will be rewarded. “One again our troops demonstrated well by recapturing the city,” the President said. “Those who don’t respect ulema, women, children, and our national interests, they will face tough resistance from our troops,” he said.
“Earlier we said that we have been under an undeclared war. And this is what Pakistan also accepted,” the President said. Ghani added that terror sanctuaries still exist, which means no peace between the two governments. “When it comes to the relations of the government with its own people, and a government that believes in the law and good governance never closes the door for peace talks,” he said.
Acting Minister for Defense Masoum Stanikzai said that clearance operation was still ongoing in different parts of Kunduz city.
He said that most parts of the city were cleared, but there some small groups were still there to be eliminated.