In a historic joint session with members of both houses of parliament, cabinet members and religious scholars, President Ashraf Ghani blasted Pakistan for not fulfilling its promises to get the Taliban to the peace talks tables and said the Afghan government will no longer call on Islamabad to help with this.
Ghani said Pakistan should realize that there is no difference between good terrorists and bad terrorists and that it should act as a responsible government.
On peace with Taliban he said, the Afghan government wants peace with groups that denounce violence, accept the Constitution and cut ties with terrorist groups.
He said parts of the Taliban are the enemy and the doors of peace will not be open for all factions of the group.
He told the lawmakers that the Afghan government has ended its responsibility for calling for peace and will use all resources to defend the country against terrorists.
“The enemies of Afghanistan are alien hireling groups like Daesh, al Qaeda, murderous groups of Haqqani and parts of Taliban who enjoy shedding their countrymen’s blood and continue the war and terrorism,” he added.
Ghani stated that the “time for unjustified amnesty is over. Those involved in terrorist activities will be executed.”
“We did not spare any efforts to peacefully put an end to the violence in the country. Meanwhile, we have put every effort to defend our people in the undeclared war against us,” he continued.
The president pledged to end the caretaking practice in government, and said: “‘Honorable lawmakers and senators! Minister of Defense and the Director General of the NDS will be introduced to you in the next few days.”
Ghani said government has prepared a 5-year war strategy that will be finalized at the Warsaw Summit in July.
He stated that 50,000 families have sent their sons to the front line of the war and he thanks them for this.
He stressed the fact that the Afghan Air Force is a lot stronger now than in the past and have targeted militants in all parts of Afghanistan.
“Security forces are embroiled in seven military operations in 15 provinces to suppress Taliban and Haqqani network,” he added.
Meanwhile, he said government now has the full support of MPs over its political and war decisions following a meeting last week.
Talking about last week’s attack in Kabul, Ghani said the attack was not the first of its kind and their (insurgents) list of activities is a long one in Afghanistan.
“Tuesday’s attack in Kabul further sidelined the ‘criminals’ and people showed their hatred towards them by donating blood for victims all over the country,” he said.
On the issue of endemic corruption in public offices, he said the National Assembly should support the fight against corruption and that government has taken some important moves to overcome this menace.
He mentioned that enemies use this weak point on government – corruption – to serve their own purposes, adding that the nation should be united against their plots.
He also touched on government’s economic plans and said they are trying to boost the economy and increase jobs in the country.
He termed the October Brussels Conference on Afghanistan as crucial and said almost 70 countries will attend the summit and will renew their pledges to Kabul.
Meanwhile, the speaker of the Wolesi Jirga (Lower House of Parliament), Abdul Rauf Ibrahimi, opened Monday’s session and presented a list of MPs demands.
His demands included the timely holding of the parliamentary and district councils’ elections, ending of the caretaking practice in government, moving forward peace with those who lay down their arms and join the peace process, reviewing government’s security and defense strategy, implementation of the bilateral security agreement (BSA) signed between Kabul and Washington, the review of the High Peace Council’s (HPC) activities, addressing Afghan refugees and migrants’ problems in Saudi Arabia and European countries, the strengthening of good governance in public offices and fulfilling the promises of government leaders which they made before and after the establishment of the National Unity Government.http://www.tolonews.com/en/afghanistan/24962-ghani-closes-door-to-talks-with-some-taliban
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