Editor in Chief: Moh. Reza Huwaida Thursday, March 28th, 2024

EU Shows a Clear Stance in Afghan Peace Process

Few days ago, Federica Maria Mogherini, the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, came to Kabul and met with President Mohammed Ashraf Ghani and Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah. In a joint press conference with President Ghani, “she said that the EU union has clear plans for sustainable peace building to strengthening governance in Afghanistan.” “The EU strongly supports an Afghan-led and Afghan-owned peace process to preserve the achievements of Afghanistan attained in past eighteen years”, she said. She said the European Union will continue supporting the Afghan peace press and that there should be a ceasefire in order to move forward the peace talks.
Mogherini articulated that EU support peace talks without any political agenda, and she summarized her main views in five steps: first of all, the Afghan government should be helped to establish a pervasive peace program. Second, comprehensive reforms need to take place in state institutions, especially in security institutions. Third, donations need to be made to fighters who stop fighting. Fourth, the trade has to be boosted among regional countries, and the level of economic cooperation should increase. Fifth, to implement these plans EU has the readiness to be considered as a guarantor for the peace process.
Meanwhile, President Ashraf Ghani said a big opportunity has been created for peace in the country and this opportunity can only be used by the elected government of Afghanistan. He indirectly pointed at recent pressures by some politicians and some countries in the region about peace and said that peace cannot be achieved through threats. According to him, stability in Afghanistan is in favor of stability in the region and the world.  Ghani said the European Union has no other intention than seeing peace and stability in the world. He said the upcoming consultative Jirga will provide the opportunity for Afghans to decide about their future.
Ghani said Afghanistan is suffering from the violence which is the consequence of internal as well as regional and international conditions, adding that basis of the country’s foreign policy is creating a positive vision among the international community towards Afghanistan. Meanwhile, Mogherini said the conditions for peace have been provided and that Afghans should move the process forward. “Time has come for the Afghans; all the Afghans without exclusion have to take the future of their country in their hands. “We will be at your side in this difficult but important journey and we should accompany the Afghan people and their democratically elected institutions in this particular moment of their history,” Mogherini said.
The hopeful expression of the EU high ranking officials comes after Qatar long peace talks behind the closed door between which raised many questions in the country. Some expressed concerns over the outcome of peace process with Taliban, while other used the opportunity to propose interim government in the country. Domestic politicians also tried to use from the opportunity; some of them highlighted the interim Government while other prepared a long list to travel to Qatar to confiscate the peace process in their turbulent politic. With highlighting the peace talks, the public opinion was also distracted from presidential election to peace talks.
Unfortunately, some of the politicians showed their readiness to accept the Black Taliban sovereignty at the cost of undermining the current government. Supporting Taliban policy, they have disclosed their hidden desire in the public arena. What we, as a citizen of this land, need to ask them whether they consider the public interests in their expressions and political stances?  If yes, according to which polls, do they consider the coming of the interim government after the May of this year in line with the wishes of the people? People who always call the maintenance of the current system, with all its shortcomings and deficiencies, are much better than the interim government. So, they should not use people for their personal interests.
The Mogirini’s trip to Kabul clarified a lot of ambiguities and answered a lot of questions. Mogirini explicitly explained the angles of peace and its implications and supported Afghanistan’s ownership for peace process. People say peace must be sustainable; sustainable peace comes when the peace process is inclusive and all citizens see themselves as a part of the negotiation process and their demands in the peace agreement are taken into account. Mogirini’s trip to Kabul shows the interlinked and unified stance of the EU and the US on the peace talks as allies. It is a positive trend in the Afghan peace process and can play a critical role to reach to a sustainable peace deal in the country.
People want the government to have a strong presence in the negotiation as an elected representative of people.
The achievements of the past eighteen years should be preserved and the constitution should be considered as the basis of peace process. Peace must lead to stability and security; if the peace does not provide people with security and stability, it does not pave the way for social welfare. People do not want to victimize the two decades achievements and democratic system for unclear peace as there is no real peace without democracy. Failure to hold elections means shutting down the democratic process and giving unnecessary privilege to the Taliban.
From the people’s points of view, peace and war does not only depend to people of Afghanistan. Many of the problems have rooted in regional and international countries, and so they can contribute in advancement of peace process. So, running away from the problems are not good solutions instead of wasting time we need to solve the fundamental issues.  EU and The US initiatives and plans are also consistent with people and government indicating the international acceptance of the government’s approach to the issue of peace in Afghanistan.