KABUL - President Ashraf Ghani on Sunday stressed national unity and patience to have a strong leadership, saying Afghanistan was no longer a country led by arbitrary actions and democracy also did not mean ‘everything is mine’.
The president expressed these views while addressing the inauguration ceremony of the Afghan youth parliament in Kabul.
His remarks about patience in leadership comes three days after Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Abdullah Abdullah  criticized President Ghani leadership and said he was obliged to express his differences with Ghani publicly.
Abdullah said essential pledges of the national unity government agreement such as convening a Loya Jirga, amending the Constitution to create the post of a prime minister to replace the executive directorate and introduce electoral reforms had not been implemented so far.
The CEO also expressed concern about the president’s behavior with ministers and said Ghani did not meet him during the past three months.
However, addressing the youth parliament, the president did not mention Abdullah’s statements, but said: “Democracy does not mean everything should turn around in the interest of a particular person, this country is not someone’s personal asset, but it is the country of lions.”
“If you say ‘I am the only best one’ and I also say the same thing, then none of us could be the winners, but if we praise each other it would value us both,” he added.
Ghani added the Afghan nation even in worst situations did not raise voice about divisions because they were strong and supported unity in the country.
He asked the youth to listen to the demands of Afghan people and work for resolving their problems.
“Those who represent their people should change their individual identity to collective identity, representing people and leadership is a heavy responsibility, people’s judgment is always fair and we must hear their voice,” he said.
Speaking to the youth parliament members, Ghani said leading people was not a simple duty but it needed patience and tolerance, a skill better described by Khushal Khan Khattak, a Pashtun poet.
“A president when takes office should avoid expressing his personal emotions because he has no right to publicly show his own feelings,” he said.
“Patience, tolerance and leadership are specifications of a president, patience and self-analysis is important, but it does not mean a person should lose decisiveness, when an action is decided with full accuracy, it should be performed decisively, it means we should understand our environment,” Ghani added.
Addressing the  youth, he said: “You are not here to similitude an association, but to similitude the nation in the house of the nation, this shows the idea that Afghanistan is not a authoritarian country.”
The creation of the youth parliament made it clear that the new Afghan generation trusted the country’s Constitution, the president said.
“The pains of Afghans have no end, you have experienced plight living under tents during the migration. You went through displacement, discrimination and when an Afghan woman had no permission to study, but we would never go back to the past, the achievements of our country lead us to go forward in future,” he said.
Ghani said leadership and presidency should be committed to accountability.
“Dear brothers and sisters don’t forget we were Muslims, are Muslims and would remain Muslims forever, understanding Islam is important for us.”
“If you want to be free of today’s extremists and terrorists, we should study Islamic history, a thousand years ago we were people who united civilizations in the world and created the brightest civilization on the planet,” he said.
“Some extremists who call themselves as Daesh and terrorists who think they can take hostage an entire civilization, don’t let them, eliminating such groups need leadership, confidence and understanding, but leadership should be with a strategy.”
“Showing reaction is not leadership but changing our environment is,” he said.
He said the age of migration was the age of deportation and Afghans never wanted to migrate. The government is committed to uniting the Afghan population and bringing the refugees home as soon as possible,” he added.
The government would pay serious attention to youth’s demands, but the youth should also listen to the requirements of the nation and work for resolving their problems, the president continued.
He said the youth were busy alongside the Afghan forces right now across the country defending their land and people. “Their commitment shows Afghanistan would make thousands of more history”, the president said.
Meshrano Jirga or upper house chairman Fazal Hadi Muslimyar said professional youths had found the way to the youth parliament.
He said people’s representatives would support the youth parliament and its members.
Kamal Sadat, youth affairs assistant at the Ministry of Information and Culture, said 122 youth, 30 percent of them females, were members of the youth parliament.
Each member of the parliament should be between 18 and 30 years of age and graduated from a high school, he said.

The youth parliament is a program of the youth affairs department of the Ministry of Information and Culture aimed to increase youth presence in Afghanistan’s internal affairs and share their views and suggestions for improving social, political and economic situation of the youth. (Pajwhok)