The Next Chapter in the Afghan-led Peace Process
By HE
President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani
Geneva November 28, 2018
Owning the Peace
Tragedy is a daily occurrence in our lives. Each week,
we lose on average one hundred Afghans, from all walks of life. The scale of
violence inflicted on us is tragic.
How have Afghans reacted to this tragedy? With
despair and hopelessness? No, in-stead, with powerful conviction and a true
sense of urgency to seek an enduring and inclusive peace. Not the type of peace
that comes from signing a piece of paper, but the type of peace that will
enable us to address the deep roots of our inherited prob-lems from four
decades of conflict.
Let me differentiate between a false sense of
urgency and a true sense of urgency. False urgency consists of hurried actions
without direction, often organized around political timelines, boxes ticked
without coherence—this is a dangerous and superficial path to short-term peace
that we must steer clear of.
A true sense of urgency means we are
laser-focused on what lasting peace requires. True urgency allows us to focus
on the critical issues, to define and own our problems, and to draw on our past
and the experiences of other societies. It requires careful consideration of
each aspect of peace-making, but also the courage to take risks and the
assumption of responsibility for leading peace efforts.
The result of this thought process is the
creation of a roadmap for a process and pro-grams that foster stability,
security and inclusive growth atop the foundation of a democratic society.
The government of national unity is driven by a
sense of true urgency for peace in our society. We have had this for years now,
and we have already laid some critical ground-work for sustainable peace over
the past five years. Our peace offering of February 28, 2018, for example, was
derived from this sense of urgency. We made this offer without precondition.
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Through this offer, we sought a peace agreement
in which the Taliban would be in-cluded in a democratic and inclusive society,
respecting the following tenets:
1. The Constitutional rights and obligations, of
all citizens, especially women, are ensured.
2. The Constitution is accepted, or amendments
proposed through the constitu-tional provision.
3. The Afghan National Defense and Security
Forces and civil service function ac-cording to law.
4. No armed groups with ties to transnational
terrorist networks or transnational criminal organizations, or with ties to
state/non-state actors, seeking influence in Afghanistan will be allowed to
join the political process.
Achieving these end goals clearly requires a
sovereign and independent Afghanistan. We must not sacrifice sustainable peace
to achieving short-term objectives, which would ultimately result in a renewal
of old conflicts—this time on a larger scale—and which would condemn the
current and future generations of Afghans to misery and destruction. We must
end this conflict now, but once and for all.
Our framing for the peace process which I have
just elaborated on has been renewed and refined through intensive consultations
since February 2018, particularly in the weeks leading to the Geneva
Conference.
Over the past eight months, I have consulted
extensively with a wide variety of differ-ent groups of Afghans from across the
country—women, youth, rural and urban dwell-ing citizens, civil society,
current and former political elite and leaders. Each group shares a unique and
important perspective, but the common threads resulting from these
consultations is a strong renewal of:
1. Consensus on the credibility and importance
of the 2004 Constitution
2. The necessity of our foundational partnership
with the international community, and
3. That the Afghan government and society must
lead and own the peace process.
The consultations have also resulted in
expressions of strong fears. Many of those fears are regarding some ideas that
have been floating around in the media: for exam-ple, a departure from the
constitution through ill-thought arrangements, such as the proposal of an
interim administration; the sacrifice of the rights of citizens in general, and
women in particular; and the international community’s impending abandonment of
this generation of young Afghans, which I believe will prove itself to be the
greatest and most consequential generation in our contemporary history.
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I have listened to these fears and hopes, which
has proven to me over and over again that Afghans fully understand peace and
what it requires. Afghans are emotionally and mentally prepared now to overcome
the past and own the future. And it has further strengthened my resolve and
this government’s resolve to firmly own and lead the peace process.
That said, our society does have a strong desire
for the international community to play a constructive role. This also includes
Arab Islamic countries, our regional neigh-bors and international
organizations.
As we work together in this pursuit of lasting
peace, we must not repeat the experi-ence of 1992, where instead of stability
and security, we were engulfed in massive conflict resulting in the destruction
of our human, social and economic capital. Afghans will not become refugees
again. We will not allow the gains to be lost through lack of focus and
hotheadedness. We are determined to have clarity of vision, focused direc-tion,
and deliberate action to voice, represent and safeguard the sacrifices of our
na-tional defense and security forces and deliver on the hopes and aspirations
of our peo-ple.
Leading the Peace
I will now turn to how we are leading the peace
process and where we are right now in this process.
Our vision for peace is guided by Allah’s
commandment, which was revealed in the Holy Quran (41:34):
“The good and the evil deed are not equal. Repel
the evil deed with one which is better; then he, between whom and you there was
enmity, will become as though a loyal, protecting friend.”
The Kabul process embodies this vision into
distinctive lines of efforts, resulting in a comprehensive program of action.
In February, we identified six areas for peace and stability. Let me provide an
overview of the efforts in each area:
1. We coordinated unprecedented international
and diplomatic support of the peace offer to the Taliban during Eid-al-Fitr
this year. The NATO Summit this year in July was a ringing endorsement of our
peace offer and the June cease-fire. We thank all of our international
partners, particularly the United States,
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for systematically supporting the Kabul Process.
We also thank all of you today for making peace an integral part of a
conference that was first designed to take stock of mutual commitment in the
development arena. I would also like to recognize and thank China, the United
Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and India for their efforts on multiple
levels—bilateral, trilateral, quadrilateral —to en-gage in a constructive
dialogue on peace efforts.
2. We thank Uzbekistan for convening the
Tashkent Conference to align various efforts by countries and regional
organizations with the Kabul Process. Tash-kent provided a model that flows
from the international principle of equality of sovereign states, as the meeting
was jointly prepared by the Afghan govern-ment and co-chaired by Uzbekistan and
Afghanistan. Adherence to the princi-ple of sovereignty and respect for the
ownership and leadership of Afghanistan is crucial to ensuring the stability,
security and prosperity of Afghanistan in the region.
3. We are pleased to acknowledge the close
cooperation and consensus of the global Islamic community to counter the use of
religious text as justification of unrestricted war. We thank the government
and the Ulema of Indonesia for convening and hosting a gathering of Afghan,
Pakistani and Indonesian scholars in Jakarta on May this year, where false and
misguided notions of violence against civilians and the use of suicide bombings
were explicitly declared as “against the holy principles of Islam.” We also
thank the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). The religious
justification for conflict has been stripped of validity by the conference of
Ulema in Indonesia, the OIC gathering of promi-nent muftis from across the
Muslim world, by the passionate addresses of imams in the Holy cities of Makkah
and Madina and by prominent supporters of His Highness King Salman Ibn
Abdulazziz Al-Saud, the custodian of the holy shrines. What we have achieved
today, from an Islamic perspective, is consen-sus. Those pariahs in the Islamic
world have since emerged—radical terrorists wrongly claiming to be engaged in
Islamic jihad, and their state sponsors.
4. We asked for a concerted global effort to
persuade Pakistan to engage in a com-prehensive state-to-state dialogue and to
support the peace offer to the Tali-ban. That global effort is now in place. On
paper, state to state discussions have resulted in an agreement, the
Afghanistan-Pakistan Action Plan for Peace and Reconciliation. Progress on the
ground, however, is negligible. Movement from agreement to action is lacking
from Pakistan.
5. and The fifth and sixth elements are our
requests for support in the implemen-tation of the peace agreement, and support
of peace building initiatives, through trade, transit and investment, as well
as support of our government
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reform agenda and anti-corruption strategy in
the build up to the forthcoming 2019 presidential elections.
We are pleased to acknowledge that a
constructive dialogue is in place, as manifested in this conference.
Moving forward to build upon the work we have
already done, we argue that realiza-tion of our vision requires compassion,
conviction and courage in dealing with the Tal-iban.
The June 2018 Eid-al-Fitr ceasefire showed the
conviction of the Ulema, the courage of the government and security forces and
the compassion of our people.
An unprecedented gathering of 2,906 Afghan
Islamic scholars issued a unified fatwa—a declaration restating the commandment
of Allah of the necessity of peace, and the tenants of Islamic principles and
sharia law on the rejection of violence as a method of resolving disputes
between Muslims. The Ulema urged the government and the Tali-ban to declare a
ceasefire.
The government was propelled by our sense of
true urgency to muster courage and conviction — within four days of the Ulema’s
meeting, we called for a ceasefire.
The logic of the Ulema was so compelling that
the Taliban responded positively and accepted the ceasefire and complied,
except for a few small isolated incidents.
The compassion shown by Afghan citizens was
truly impressive—what happened com-pletely changed the political landscape, it
challenged our conceptions of ourselves, and it altered the possibilities for
our future. Over 30,000 Taliban fighters, mostly young people, came to the
cities and joined in intense dialogue with their fellow citi-zens, conversing
with members of armed forces, engaging in dialogue with women activists,
praying in mosques with their fellow Muslims, and breaking bread with
gov-ernment officials and citizens from all walks of life in local halls across
the country. After 39 years, Afghan children had a true holiday where they
could go out, play and visit with friends and relatives.
Three things standout about the ceasefire.
1. Despite the loss of nearly 1,000 lives in the
week before the ceasefire, Afghan society reinforced its firm commitment to
compassion and the need to move forward, not look back.
2. Contrary to assertions that Taliban fighters
will never accept peace, young Tal-iban fighters that day repeatedly asserted
that they are sick and tired of vio-lence.
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3. Our security forces displayed steadfast
courage and heroism, both before and after the ceasefire. They proved that they
are true guardians of Afghanistan’s stability and security and firmly committed
to following the lead of their elected leader.
Let me elaborate now on our National Defense and
Security Forces.
Their sacrifice is inspiring strong patriotism
in this nation. As commander in chief, I could not be more proud of our defense
and security forces. In the past four years, the security forces have moved
from being once referred to as a mercenary force by past leaders, to being the
most trusted government institution in the nation. Afghans are full of pride
for them.
On the January 1, 2015, the Afghan national
security forces assumed with pride the full responsibility for our freedom and
global security, here on the frontlines of the war on terror. Since then, the
international losses have been 59 armed forces, while their total losses from
2001 to 2014 was 3,458. But since January 2015, we Afghans have lost a
staggering 28,529 of our Afghan sons and daughters.
This is not a number. These were precious lives,
many of them breadwinners for their families, our nation’s pride. I will not
stand idol and witness yet another generation of Afghans lost to war and
bloodshed. Let me repeat, peace is our nation’s imperative.
We gratefully acknowledge the Resolute Support
mission of train, advise and assist. But it should be crystal clear here today
that Afghans are fighting and dying, not only for our constitutional order,
sovereignty, national unity and the right to life and hap-piness of the current
and future generations of Afghans, but also to defend a front line that guards
the rest of the world from the global threat of international terrorism.
I ask for a moment of silence, in honor of both
Afghan and international security forces and the thousands of civilians who
have been martyred in defense of our rights as a people, a nation, and a state.
Moment of Silence
Thank you. Ensuring the functioning of our
defense and security forces and our civil service according to the law is an
absolutely essential element to enduring peace and security.
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The Nature and Dimensions of War
A true sense of urgency, on the one hand,
requires clarity of strategic focus, reasoned discourse, calmness and
deliberation. On the other hand, the daily pain and suffering inflicted upon
our people and our institutions, capabilities and capitals, is intense,
re-lentless, and horrific. Unspeakable crimes are being committed against the
Afghan people.
What is being practiced against our society and
people is best characterized as unre-strained war— there is not a single sphere
of our life that has not been attacked. Public streets, hospitals, mosques,
universities, places of business, sports centers, schools.
The most recent attack on November 22 crossed all
boundaries. A large gathering of Ulema celebrating the birthday of the Prophet
Mohammad, peace be upon him, and listening to the recitation of the Holy Quran
in a hotel were attacked by a suicide bomber.
The enormity of the crime is an indication that
this conflict, which is being imposed upon us, has crossed all boundaries of
decency, humanity, and the injunctions of all religions on peace, particularly
the message of tolerance and peace which emanated from the Prophet Mohammad,
peace be upon him.
This is unrestrained warfare. Its ever-changing
character is driven by four dimensions:
1. Trans-national terrorist networks have
targeted us since the hijacking of our country by Al-Qaeda in the 1990s. In
their warped narrative, destruction of the Afghan society and state is a means
for their world-wide destructive objec-tives—a reign of terror. They have
nothing to offer the Afghan people. They have taken advantage of our strategic
location in order to inflict pain on the region and the world. Afghanistan is the
not their objective but instead a critical site, a launch pad, for these
networks—this fact very unfortunately brings the misguided from across the
world to deliver death and destruction to our soci-ety. Today, we have over a
dozen transnational terrorists networks operating in Afghanistan.
2. Transnational criminal organizations are the
second drivers of conflict. In the same way that the cocaine cartels have
driven the conflict in Colombia, the her-oine cartels are a major driver of
instability and violence in our country. The total farm-gate price of opium in
Afghanistan for 2017 recorded was 1.4 billion USD, and 0.6 billion USD in 2018.
But the street value in Europe, Russia, Aus-tralia and now Canada runs into the
hundreds of billions. Our collective failure to design and implement an
agricultural transformation of Afghanistan has not
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only resulted in perpetuation of poverty and
inequality but has also provided the enabling conditions for transnational
criminal organizations to exploit Af-ghan farmers.
3. The third dimension is the failure of some
neighboring countries – and one in particular – to fulfill all their
obligations under UN conventions against terror-ism. Unfortunately, the Afghan
government’s efforts to reduce violence gener-ated by Taliban attacks and
protect our people is undercut by this repetitive failure. Even as the ANDSF
confront the Taliban and disrupt networks planning attacks against Afghan
civilians, some neighboring countries have not cooper-ated fully in reducing
and eliminating the Taliban’s ability to recruit, train and support fighters
inside Afghanistan. If we were dealing with a conflict that only had national
dimensions, the war would have been over a long time ago. We have repeatedly
stated to our neighbors that our relations must address three critical
dimensions: 1) removal of a specter of violence emanating from the re-gion, 2)
defining a normal and cooperative relationship between all countries in the
region; and 3) agreeing on a framework of counter-terrorism.
4. The Afghan Taliban are the fourth driver of
conflict. They are Afghan by origin and therefore as a nation and a state, we
must deal with and resolve the differ-ences that divide us and embrace common
goals that will unite us. It is with this premise that we made an unconditional
offer of negotiations with the Afghan Taliban. We argue that the platform
provided by the Taliban has enabled the other three drivers. Our question to
the Taliban is: would you like to be the sacrificial lamb of these entities,
kill your fellow Afghan citizens, and die to the very last one of you, for the
sake of the self-serving agendas of others? Let me be explicit—the Taliban have
a clear choice at this point, which we present to them—choose to act as
Afghans, or accept the manipulation by entities that have no vision for our
collective future as a people, or respect for our dignity, freedom and
sovereignty.
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Negotiations with the Taliban
What is our approach now moving forward?
To bring an end to this unrestrained war, we
have to deal with the national and the regional Islamic dimensions, as well as
the drivers of the conflict. The compassion, con-viction and courage required
for dealing with the Taliban manifest in our February of-fer and our subsequent
leadership on follow-up actions, which I discussed above.
Here, I would like to share some announcements
and highlight our most recent think-ing on negotiations with the Taliban and
how we are proceeding.
1. First of all, I am pleased to announce that
our 12-member negotiating team is ready, and presidential chief of staff Salam
Rahimi will lead the negotiation team. He is a man who has imminent Jihadi and
civil society credentials. The team includes women and men who have the
necessary credentials to deal with the key challenges of peace, particularly
with a focus on a feasible and credible implementation plan.
2. Second, to ensure consensus and to provide
direction to the negotiating team, I also announce the formation of diverse
groups of individuals into a peace ad-visory board which will serve as a
network of networks to provide timely advice on critical issues in peace
negotiations. The peace advisory board will be com-prised of nine committees
addressing various segments of our society.
3. Third, the High Peace Council, based on their
own request and with support from the government, will be restructured to focus
on public awareness and will provide advice and input to the government
regarding post-peace scenar-ios.
4. Fourth, let me clarify our proposed approach
to negotiations. We aim to first arrive at a list of key issues from both the
Taliban’s side and the government’s side, then to classify and categorize these
into a table of contents of key issues. We will then assign each of the key
topics to a joint committee, where both sides of the negotiating teams, and
other Afghans with necessary skills, will be brought in. The key members of the
two negotiating teams—government and Taliban—will focus on the key issues that
divide us and which need to be re-solved.
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5. Negotiations will happen in phases. We
propose the following sequencing of phases:
a. Phase one will be intra-Afghan, where we deal
with the key six building blocks of peace.
i. The first building block is a political
process: ceasefire, recognition of the Afghan Taliban as a political party,
transitional confidence-building arrangements and inclusive, credible, free and
fair elec-tions.
ii. The second building block is the legal
framework: constitutional review, justice and resolution of grievances,
enabling laws or de-crees, prisoner release and removal from sanctions lists.
iii. The third building block is reorganization
of the state: rule of law and reform, balanced spatial development,
reintegration of refu-gees and internally displaced populations.
iv. The fourth building block of peace is
security: for the public, as well as for the reconcilable who are being
reintegrated.
v. The fifth building block of peace is social
and economic develop-ment: inclusive and sustained growth, equitable access to
land and public assets, fighting corruption, national job creation pro-grams,
reintegration of refugees and ex-combatants.
vi. And the sixth building block of peace is
support and partnership with the international community: diplomatic and
financial sup-port, status of foreign fighters and removal from sanctions
lists.
b. Phase two will involve joint discussions with
Pakistan, the United States, and NATO. Relations between NATO, the US and
Afghanistan are gov-erned by the Status of Forces Agreement, the Strategic
Partnership Com-pact, and the Bilateral Security Agreement. All are public
documents and duly ratified by consultative loya jirgas and the parliament of
Afghani-stan. Relations between the Taliban and Pakistan however are shrouded
in mystery. The UN charter has enshrined the principle of sovereignty and
non-interference in the affairs of other states. This relationship needs to be
clarified.
c. Phase three will require participation of the
regional actors ranging from China, India, Russia and Turkey to our immediate
neighbors.
d. Phase four will be garnering support from the
Arab-Islamic world, includ-ing Indonesia, the UAE and Saudi Arabia.
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e. Phase 5 will be garnering support from NATO
and non-NATO member states, and developmental partners who have generously supported
us both on the battlefield and in our development efforts.
f. The result of this phased approach will be an
inclusive and comprehen-sive peace agreement that engages all stake holders at
the appropriate times.
6. To ensure commitment and to also display
commitment of the Afghan govern-ment, we propose three critical measures.
I. First, putting implementation front and
center—meaning a time-bound implementation plan will be part of the peace
agreement.
II. Second, confidence-building measures upon
the commencement of peace talks will also continue during the negotiations, to
ensure the com-mitment of the government during the first year of peace is
genuine. We propose front-loading those undertakings, which will require
political will.
III. Third, a national mechanism of ratification
will be agreed upon during the discussions. These could be any appropriate
body, such as the par-liament, a loya jirga (as specified in the constitution),
or by a referendum.
Now, the question that is often raised is the
relation between peace and the forth-coming presidential elections. Let me get
to the heart of the matter directly—we need an elected government with a
mandate to obtain ratification, implement the peace agreement, and lead the
societal reconciliation process. I can guarantee you that any other government
would have refused to engage in its last months with an issue as significant as
peace.
However, Dr. Abdullah and I each ran on a
platform of peace and feel that it is our calling and responsibility to act on
the national imperative to push the peace process as far as we possibly can in
the time allotted to us by the vote of the Afghan public in 2014.
But let it be crystal clear though that
implementation of our proposed peace process will minimally require a period of
five years. We will have to reintegrate approximately 4 million Afghans that
are living as refugees in Iran and Afghanistan.
We should not forget that 40% of Afghans are
living below the poverty line and that environmental change and drought is
reeking havoc both in the lives of our people and
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the destruction of our natural capital – our
pasture lands, water basins and other nat-ural resources. These matters also
require immediate attention.
However, given the national consensus on peace,
I am confident that leading presi-dential candidates will join us in acting on
the national sense of true urgency to get to an agreement. The presidential
elections provide the appropriate platform for a truly national discussion on
ending the conflict and ensuring sustainable and lasting peace.
Regional Consensus
Given that we have been in conflict for 39 years
and over 4 million Afghan refugees are residing in neighboring countries, peace
in Afghanistan requires renewal of the regional consensus.
After the tragedy of 9/11, the regional
consensus on a stable Afghanistan was sponta-neous. Today, however, the
regional consensus needs to be actively recreated, as some actors either see us
as part of a broader chess game with their rivals or are un-certain of
stability. We argue that a stable Afghanistan is essential to regional
cooper-ation, stability and prosperity. We suggest a change of focus in the
following five areas.
1. First, we must change the perception of Afghanistan
as a site of danger or a battle ground for proxy warfare, to a platform of
cooperation by location and by strategic perspective. Afghanistan is a
roundabout for the mutually benefi-cial exchange of data, goods, and ideas. In
the past five years, we have offered constructive ideas and followed up on them
to demonstrate in practice that a cooperative advantage outweighs the
competitive drive between our regional neighbors. At the Shanghai Conference,
we articulated this view and were grateful that many leaders, including India,
China and Uzbekistan, strongly en-dorsed this change in perspective.
2. Second, this change of perspective should be
followed by a change of policy. Our relationships with Turkmenistan,
Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Azerbaijan are an illustration of how
changed policies have led to a massive in-crease in economic cooperation and
governmental coordination. Thanks to the change in perspective and policies,
Afghanistan today is an integral part of cen-tral Asia. The air corridor with
India and now with China, Turkey and Europe is another illustration on how
change in policies can bring mutual and enduring benefits.
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3. Third, we emphatically seek peace with all of
our neighbors. We have not posed a threat to any of our neighbors—it is simply
not in our national interest. More-over, without Afghanistan as a bridge—there
can be no sustained economic linkages between South Asia and Central Asia.
4. Fourth, we need a coordinated regional
endorsement and appropriate guaran-tees of peace with the Taliban.
5. Fifth, we feel that there is a regional
imperative to create agreement on secu-rity, counter-terrorism and
counter-narcotics, and create the appropriate or-ganizational instruments for
ensuring systematic and sustained attention, to safeguard our collective
security and well-being. The regional environment does not operate on the basis
of political boundaries. Water management is essential to our collective
interests. We suggest coordination both in terms of response to natural
disasters and emergencies, and to preservation and stew-ardship of our common
natural capital, ranging from forests to water resources.
International Consensus
Let me express gratitude on behalf of the Afghan
people for the strong international support extended to Afghanistan in the wake
of 9/11. Neither blood nor treasure was spared to help us realize the vision
and the dreams of the Afghan nation which we strongly articulated in the
emergency loya jirga of 2002 and the constitutional loya jirga of 2004.
Some Afghan leaders wasted the golden
opportunity of heightened international sup-port and did not nurture these
partnerships or deliver on the aspiration of our people. Why? This is better
left to the judgement of history.
As far as the government of national unity is
concerned, we have succeeded against all odds and in the face of immense
violence to own our problems and the solutions and move forward on the basis of
national consensus. To ensure that our common goal of peace is achieved, we
suggest five areas of focus for our international partners.
1. First, continue in a supporting role as we
Afghans take the lead. We not only know our problems but have shown the
capability, the judgement and the per-severance to lead under trying
circumstances without losing a sense of direc-tion or priority. Peace is our
national imperative and we commit to sacrifices that responsibility and
leadership demands of us.
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2. Second, the Bilateral Security Agreement and
Status of Forces Agreement were entered into by a sovereign Afghan state, with
the US and NATO. Discussion of these agreements and any changes to them can
only be negotiated through discussion, per agreement of the signing parties.
Our armed forces, whose sac-rifices have known no bounds, need clarity and
assurance that their newly-found capacities and capabilities are not going to
be compromised and frittered away.
3. Third, sovereign rights are the hallmark and
foundation of the current interna-tional order. The government of national
unity has pursued a clear and system-atic agenda of reforms. We will be sharing
achievements and steps forward in our reforms agenda in various side events and
the plenary of this conference. Respecting these sovereign rights minimally
requires coordination and co-chair-ing of any discussion on peace. There cannot
be double standards. Any breach of our sovereignty will be met with a strong
reaction from our people who throughout the course of history have embraced
those who come in friendship, but have resisted aggression and invasion at all
costs.
4. Fourth, we should start discussions on
international endorsements and guaran-tees of the peace agreement between the
Afghan government and the Taliban. Given the multi-dimensional conflicts that
are being waged over Afghanistan, we need imagination and the best of
diplomatic skills to think through arrange-ments that can secure Afghanistan’s
future, including ensuring Afghanistan can provide for its own security without
the permanent presence of foreign forces. Of course, a coordinated effort to
eliminate the threat posed by transnational terrorist organizations is an
essential and necessary step for ensuring that the sacrifices in blood and
treasure of our international partners will not be in vain.
5. Fifth, arriving at an enduring and lasting
peace requires inputs and an agreed-upon process of endorsement by our
international partners. Agreeing to the phased sequence that we have suggested
today, or offering alternative se-quences, will be helpful to the success of
the process. The area where we will need maximum support is in thinking through
the requirements of a post-peace agreement Afghanistan.
As we will highlight in the plenary session,
Afghanistan is committed to pursuing a roadmap of self-reliance by 2024,
marking the end of the decade of transformation. Fortunately, Afghanistan has
been endowed with the natural capital to achieve self-reliance. Therefore, our
emphasis is not to seek more aid but to change the modalities of aid to ensure
efficiency, effectiveness and transparency and to seek connectivity
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with the region, and trade, transit and
investment from the rest of the world. A dy-namic economy focused on inclusive
growth and directed towards the goal of poverty reduction, and then poverty
elimination, is essential to a lasting peace.
Absorption of ex-combatants, assisting the
Afghan Taliban to transform themselves into a political party and creating
mechanisms to address their legitimate grievances and building trust through
confidence building measures are ingredients to ensuring true reconciliation.
Reconciliation is also going to be a social
process where we accept each other in ear-nest. This in turn requires equal
attention to the process of nation-building within the framework of rights and
obligations of our constitution.
Afghan women and youth are crucial to this
journey from chaos, conflict, criminality and corruption to stability, peace,
prosperity and inclusion. Millions of Afghans whose lives are today lived in
the shadow of fear, must embrace hope and create the oppor-tunities to allow us
to be the makers of our destiny.
I hope and pray that we will be able to deliver
on our vision of peace and the program necessary to make sure it is a credible
and lasting peace. We count on your support and we thank you for engaging with
us.
