PESHAWAR: The peace agreement between the Afghan government and Hezb-e-Islami (Hekmatyar) has received mixed response in Afghanistan.
President Ashraf Ghani signed the document at a ceremony to be held at Arg, the Presidential palace, in Kabul. Gulbaddin Hekmatyar signed it in a video link shown at the ceremony. His location wasn’t disclosed though many Afghan officials used to claim until now that he is in Pakistan.
The Afghan government is portraying it as a success of its peace initiative. As President Ashraf Ghani argued, it showed that Afghans can negotiate peace with each other without involving other countries. He said Afghanistan would not ask others such as Pakistan to help them restore peace.
The peace deal was intensely discussed in the Afghan parliament and media and was generally welcomed. However, some political and human rights activists staged protests against the peace deal in Kabul and other cities and opposed granting amnesty to Gulbaddin Hekmatyar.
Seema Samar, head of Afghanistan’s Independent Human Rights Commission who served as a minister in the cabinet of former President Hamid Karzai, asked Hekmatyar to apologize to the Afghan nation for committing human rights abuses. She argued that rights of people subjected to war crimes should not be trampled in such a manner.
However, the Wolesi Jirga (National Assembly) backed the peace agreement and lashed out at those opposing it.
Meanwhile, the killing of 12 Afghan soldiers by two of their colleagues with links to the Taliban just outside Kunduz city on September 26 showed how fragile is the security situation in Afghanistan. The peace deal with Hekmatyar raised hopes for peace, but most Afghans felt it would neither bring peace nor end the conflict as Hekmatyar’s Hezb-i-Islami is militarily weak.
The incident happened a year after the fall of Kunduz to the Taliban. The city was seized by Taliban fighters on September 27 last year and remained in their control for about two weeks before the Afghan forces and US Special forces backed by airpower pushed them out.
The Kunduz incident, termed an insider attack by some officials, took place in a security outpost in Zakhil Khamdan area in the outskirts of Kunduz city. Afghan officials said the two killers were infiltrators and had links with the Taliban. However, Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, said their fighters attacked the security outpost and killed 13 troops including two commanders. He claimed Taliban also seized 15 weapons, a wireless set and a huge quantity of ammunition.
The attack took place at a time when Kunduz city residents are warning that the security situation is tense and vulnerable again. Many residents told the Afghan media that Taliban fighters were present just outside the city and cannot be dislodged. They said the insecurity and uncertainty had forced many residents, primarily businessmen, to shift to other places.
They also accused President Ashraf Ghani and other senior officials of failing to fulfill promises made by them to people of Kunduz for compensating them for losses suffered during the fighting and for rebuilding the city’s infrastructure.
Taliban are also present in strength in neighbouring Baghlan province. Recently Taliban publicly amputated the hands of three men on charges of theft in the Markazi Baghlan district in Baghlan near the provincial capital, Pule Khumri.https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/154337-Peace-deal-with-Gulbaddin-Hekmatyar-receives-mixed-response
Comments are closed.