Afghan President Ashraf Ghani. PHOTO: REUTERS
In what appears to be an attempt to placate Pakistan’s anger at US President Donald Trump’s statement relating with his new regional policy, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said on Friday that “peace with Pakistan is our national agenda”.
The relationship between the two hyphenated neighbours has been on downward slide since an uptick in Taliban violence in Afghanistan. In July last year, President Ghani had said that the peace initiatives taken by Kabul with Islamabad were not successful as the latter differentiated between good and bad terrorists ‘in practice’.
“Our regional initiatives with neighbours are beginning to yield significant cooperative dividends. However, the exception is with Pakistan,” the Afghan leader said during his speech at Nato summit.
Despite high-level diplomatic exchanges between the two sides, there were little signs of repair in bilateral ties. However on Friday, Ghani reached out to Pakistan in his Eidul Azha message, offering ‘comprehensive negotiations’ to restore the much-needed peace to the roller-coaster relationship between the two countries, The Associated Press reported.
“From here, I have a message to Pakistan: We are ready for comprehensive political talks. Peace with Pakistan is in our national agenda,” he said while addressing political elite and journalists at the Presidential Palace.
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Earlier this month, Pakistan’s Foreign Secretary Tehmina Janjua had called on Ghani in Kabul where they discussed bilateral relations and overall geo-strategic situation in the region.
Afghanistan routinely accuses Pakistan of harbouring Taliban militants. However, Pakistan Army recently cleansed Rajgal Valley of Khyber Agency of Islamic State (IS) terrorists who had found a refuge in Afghanistan’s border regions.
The two countries squabble over the border that separates them. Known as the Durand Line, Afghanistan refuses to accept it as the international border. Firefights between the armies have broken out as Pakistan seeks to fence the border to prevent movement of terrorists across the border.
According to ToloNews, President Ghani also said that it is the time for anti-government armed groups to choose the path of peace “if they are Afghans and are not the tools of others”.
“The anti-government armed groups should choose. It is the time that they should choose that whether they are Afghans and have been grown by an Afghan mother or they are a tool of Khawarij for creating divisions [among the people of Afghanistan],” he said. “Once again I extend the hand of peace to all of them (militant groups) and tell them that peace is the order of God.”
Pointing out to recent attacks on mosques in the country, he called on the people to stay united. “This should be clear that attack on any sacred place whether they are mosques or academic centers is attack on Afghans and this should be condemned by all Afghans,” he stated.
He added: “I call on all Sunnis to go to the mosques of Ja'fari jurisprudence followers and meanwhile I call on the Ja'fari jurisprudence followers to go to Sunnis’ mosques and display the real religious unity,” he said.
The president pointed out to major changes in Afghanistan’s foreign policy, saying that the past four decades’ wishes of Afghans will come true in the near future.
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