Afghanistan Times
Related Articles
By Mansoor Faizy-KABUL: Expressing deep concerns over increasing incidents of violence across the country, the Afghanistan Council for Peace Salvation (ACPS) on Friday called on parties to the war to agree on an unconditional ceasefire, saying that nobody has achieved political goals through fighting.
“Time is ripe for all [parties] to discern that fighting is not the way to achieve political objective, rather it is inter-Afghan talks negotiated by impartial individuals,” Gul Rahma Qazi, Head of the ACPS told newsmen here.
He also informed of meeting with the Taliban, and said that ACPS had meeting with representatives of Taliban in Qatar. “We would hold meetings with Ulema, elders and influential people in the country soon in a bid to push for peace and stability,” he said.
There is no local element involvement in the current fighting, Fazal Hadi Wazin, the ACPS Spokesman said. “The current war is being managed and administered by foreigners,” he added.
Stressing on immediate end to the fighting, ACPS said that the ongoing conflict is a reason for the foreign forces to stay in the country.
Formation of the Quadrilateral Coordination Group (QCG), comprising of Afghanistan, China, Pakistan and the United States, has not helped Afghan leadership. Foreign involvement in the peace process has been seen as a setback.
The Taliban insurgents in first week of March rejected to take part in the direct peace talks with the Afghan government, unless their conditions were met. The militant group said that it has not authorized anyone to attend negotiations brooked by Afghanistan, Pakistan, China and the United States.
Withdrawal of the foreign troops from Afghanistan, exchange of prisoners and removal of its leaders names from the UN blacklist were the three major conditions. The group made it crystal clear that it would not give nod to any direct talks until their demands were addressed.
Afghan government successfully inked a peace deal with Hezb-e-Islami this month. The two parties acknowledged that the drive was successful because it was “owned and steered by Afghans”.
