Afghans call Istanbul meeting unique chance for peace

By Shadi Khan Saif

KABUL, Afghanistan (AA) – A massive public gathering in Kabul on Friday dubbed the forthcoming Istanbul conference as an unprecedented opportunity for peace in Afghanistan.

Addressing the gathering at Ghazni Stadium, Kabul governor Mohammad Yaqoob Haidari stressed fundamental rights and the Constitution will be preserved during the peace process.

“People want the warring parties to emerge beyond their personal and factional demands and respect the collective voices of the public,” said Haidari.

The Voice of the Kabul Resident about Peace gathering adopted an 11-point resolution at the end that called for a cease-fire, inclusive and just peace, and preservation of democracy and state institutions among others.

Copies of this resolution were sent to the Taliban, the UN, and Kabul-based diplomatic missions.

Earlier this week, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani floated the idea of a transitional government for peace as he unveiled his Reaching an Endstate peace plan on Tuesday, days ahead of the key international conference in Turkey.

The three-point peace plan by the Afghan president covers three broad areas: Political settlement, the government of peace, and peacebuilding, state-building and market building. It is aimed at taking Afghanistan out of "unrestricted war to just and lasting peace."

In an exclusive interview with the Anadolu Agency last month, Taliban spokesman Mohammad Naeem said Afghanistan’s future will be decided at the negotiation table. “What the future system will look like, what its nature will be, these are the topics at the table. We want to reach a consensus at the table on this. Of course, there is no doubt that the future system will be an Islamic system."

With no date announced, the proposed Istanbul conference for peace in Afghanistan is likely to be held later this month.