According to a document reached by Reuters reporters, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani prepares to offer a three-stage plan for peace in the anticipated meeting in Turkey. The plan came as the alternative to a US offer which was rejected by the Afghani government. The US plan had foreseen the establishment of an interim administration that would include Taliban representatives.
Ghani’s plan, titled “Reaching an Endstate,” foresees in the first phase “a consensus on a political settlement, and a nationwide ceasefire that would be monitored by international partners.” Holding a presidential election and establishing a “government of peace” as well as the implementation of agreed points for reaching the new political system are the elements of the second phase proposed within the context of the Afghani President’s plan. Then, the final stage will focus on drawing a “constitutional framework, providing reintegration of refugees and boosting development” in Afghanistan.
A high-level Afghan government official stated that the President has already delivered the plan to foreign capitals. It was also reported that the Afghan government would like to reach an agreement on an agenda with the Taliban before the meeting in Turkey.
Shortly after this report had come to light, Afghan Vice President Sarwar Danish announced that the government is ready to make the constitutional amendment if peace with the Taliban is reached. Speaking in a ceremony introducing the new attorney general in the capital Kabul, Vice President Danish stated that the constitutional amendment may be done in legal ways if a peace agreement is reached with the Taliban.
He called the Taliban to enter into peace talks, saying: “The Afghan government’s peace plan is based on two basic principles: One of the principles is justice and the other is sustainability. If peace does not have these two characteristics, it is not peace at all and it is just more conflict and war in a different shape and form.”, a day before the Taliban accused the government of serving American interests and of deceiving them.
The United States administration, on the other hand, is pressuring the sides to reach a final agreement before May 1, the deadline for the withdrawal of all foreign troops in the country. In these circumstances, the Turkey meeting is expected to be held within the next two weeks, although it has not been scheduled yet. US President Joe Biden had stated previously that the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan may delay, which the Taliban did not welcome and threatened with launching attacks in such a circumstance. Yet, a senior government official made contrary statements, saying that the Taliban would not launch attacks against foreign troops in the case of breaching the deadline, in exchange for the release of the Taliban members detained in prisons under Afghan authorities.
Elsewhere, conflict between the Afghan government and the Taliban lingers on, with a statement given on Sunday by the Afghan Defense Ministry indicating that at least 75 Taliban fighters were killed during an operation conducted at the Arghandab district in Kandahar.
