Daily Times

ISLAMABAD/KABUL: Afghan President Ashraf Ghani lashed out at Pakistan at the Kabul Process on Tuesday, alleging that it was waging an “undeclared war of aggression” against Afghanistan.

Issuing a stinging rebuke aimed towards Pakistan before a gathering of 23 nations, the European Union, the United Nations and NATO, Ghani asked, “What will it take to convince Pakistan that a stable Afghanistan helps them and helps our region?”

Ghani’s fresh criticism comes as the Kabul Process, a forum for the discussing security and political issues in the country, is underway.

“We want peace with Pakistan. We want to be able to trust Pakistan. And we want the chance for friendly, cooperative relationships that will reduce poverty and promote growth on both sides of the Durand Line,” President Ghani said at the conference.

Pakistan’s Additional Secretary Tasnim Aslam led a delegation, which also included Mansoor Ahmad Khan, director general of the Afghan Desk at the Foreign Office.

“Our problem, our challenge, is that we cannot figure out what is it that Pakistan wants… We continue to make an unconstrained offer for a state-to-state peace dialogue,” Ghani further said.

“But we cannot – nor can any signatory to the UN Counter-Terrorism Convention – accept that the global consensus against terrorism is not acted upon.

So we again call on the government of Pakistan to propose its agenda and a mechanism for that dialogue which can lead to peace and prosperity.”

Ghani said it could be his government’s top priority to finding an effective way to build a different relationship with Pakistan.

“We have offered Pakistan a vision of prosperity, linking South and Central Asia together through trade, investment and peaceful co-existence. As you all know, from the day I took office I went far out on a limb to offer an olive branch to Pakistan. It has not been taken,” he said.

Afghanistan has launched the Kabul Peace Process to find a path to building an inclusive peace. The conference was held in the wake of several violent attacks in Kabul and Ghani said death toll from the May 31 truck bomb reached 150.

The US, India, Saudi Arabia, Japan, UK, Russia, the UAE, Qatar, Turkey, Germany, France, Pakistan, Iran, Sweden, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, South Korea, Norway, Italy, Australia, Canada, China, NATO, UN and European Union attended the conference.

Opposing blame game, the Afghan leader said, “We won’t be drawn into a blame game. We have tried bilateral, trilateral, quadrilateral, and even multilateral negotiations to bring an end to conflict and terror. But we have made little progress.”

The Afghan leader used his written speech to offer Taliban an office in Afghanistan, the offer quickly rejected by the insurgents.

“If there is an agreement to develop a peace roadmap acceptable to both sides, we would allow the Taliban groups to open a representative office so that both sides can meet in safety,” Ghani said.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid rejected the offer and said no talks were possible in the presence of foreign troops.

“Every conference, which is aimed at extending foreign invasion in Afghanistan, will produce no results and will have no support from Afghans. Afghans will welcome any conference which will end invasion and help in the complete withdrawal of all foreign forces,” Mujahid said in a statement.

“Any peace talks in the presence of invaders will have no results and will be meaningless. The Kabul administration and its masters are talking about peace talks so the mujahideen surrendered to them. This fake process will never succeed,” the Taliban spokesman said. He said the Kabul rulers should not consider the Taliban what he called “expired gunmen” like the Taliban, as they would never surrender to the government. The Taliban used the words “expired gunmen” for Hizb-e-Islami (Hekmatyar group), which signed a peace deal in September last year.

Taliban currently have a political office in Qatar; however, it has been closed since 2014 after then president Hamid Karzai raised objections at the Taliban using the title of the Islamic Emirate and their white flag, both they had used during their 1996-2001 rule. Taliban’s political representatives are stationed in Qatar and insist on the opening of the office.

Ghani told the Taliban that the offer of peace to them would not remain open forever and that they must take advantage of it.

“We’re offering a chance for peace but we must also be clear that this is not an open-ended opportunity. Taliban-sponsored terrorism is creating a platform that is bringing terrorists and criminals from all over the region to Afghanistan,” Ghani claimed. Saying that peace in Afghanistan would bring stability to the neighbours, to Asia, and to the world, the Afghan president referred to Poet of the East Dr Allama Muhammad Iqbal, who said, “When Afghanistan is in accord, Asia is in accord; when Afghanistan is in disaccord, Asia is in discord.”