Three-phase peace roadmap for Afghanistan?

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani is set to put forward a three-phase peace roadmap for the war-torn country during the Turkey summit later this month, as per news reports. Reuters report says that Ghani will be seeking an agreement with the Taliban and a ceasefire before elections.

As the deadline for the troop pullout May 1 nears, Washington is pushing for a conference to be hosted by Turkey, with U.N. involvement. President Ghani’s roadmap comes after the Afhan government rejected the proposal put forward by Washington.

Ghani’s roadmap envisages drawing up a new legal system immediately for an interim administration to include Taliban representatives. The document with Reuters reportedly shows Ghani’s “Reaching an Endstate” proposal will include the following three phases:

• In the first phase, a consensus on a political settlement and an internationally monitored ceasefire.
• The second phase will be holding a presidential election and the establishment of a “government of peace” and implementation arrangements for moving towards the new political system.
• The third phase will involve building a “constitutional framework, reintegration of refugees and development” for Afghanistan moving forward.

A senior government official told Reuters that Ghani has already shared his road map with several world powers who are major stakeholders in the country.

On Sunday, Sarwar Danish Second Vice president said that preservation of the Afghan constitution and elections are the main road maps of the government to achieve a prolonged peace. These roadmaps are reported crucial for preventing disruption and collapse of the system, he said while speaking to reporters.

Danish noted that preserving a nation’s constitution is preserving values and preventing chaos and that the amendment should be based on legal mechanisms. Peace and war situations require re-elections for peace to be maintained in the country, Danish said.

The Afghan government and a number of politicians said they would have to agree on an agenda with the Taliban before the meeting in Turkey whose date is yet to be decided.

Taliban threatens!

In a statement last month, the Taliban threatened to resume hostilities against foreign troops in Afghanistan if they did not meet the May 1 deadline for the pullout of all foreign troops as stipulated in an agreement between the terror group and the Trump administration last year.

However, earlier this month the US President Joe Biden said it would be “hard” to withdraw the last U.S. troops from Afghanistan by May 1 “just in terms of tactical reasons”, but he said he did not think they still would be there next year.

A senior government official said the Taliban was willing to extend the May 1 dateline and would not resume attacks against foreign forces in exchange for the release of thousands of their prisoners held by the Afghan security forces and authorities. The Taliban has denied making any such offer.