Afghan peace plan outlines roadmap to future political system

The High Council for the National Reconciliation (HCNR) has drafted a unified peace plan for the upcoming Istanbul Summit.

A copy of the draft seen by Ariana News shows that the plan has four parts including a principle for the future of Afghanistan, a Peace roadmap/President Ashraf Ghani’s plan, a future political system, and an end to the ongoing conflict in the country.

According to the plan, two-thirds of the power is earmarked for the Islamic republic and one-third for the Taliban.

The first part of the plan calls for a number of stipulations including Islam to be the official religion of Afghanistan; civil rights to be preserved based on the Afghan Constitution; an amendment brought to parts of the Constitution, for International support to be preserved, and for a neutral foreign policy, elections, and an accountable government.

The second part includes Ghani’s three-phase roadmap to the restoration of peace in the country.

Ghani’s roadmap – from an unending war towards a just and lasting peace includes three phases, a political agreement; a peace government; and peacebuilding, state-building, and market-building.

In the first phase, Ghani proposed a political settlement, an internationally monitored ceasefire, a regional and international guarantee of peace as well as continued counter-terrorism efforts, and the convening of a Loya Jirga to approve the agreement.

The second phase will be to hold a presidential election and establish a “government of peace” and implement arrangements to move towards a new political system.

The third phase will involve building a “constitutional framework, security, reintegration of refugees and considering government priorities” for Afghanistan’s development.

In the third part of the draft, two political systems – a Presidential Structure with four Vice Presidents including a woman or a parliamentary system that could be implemented after a referendum for amending the Constitution – have been proposed for the future of Afghanistan

The fourth part is focused on ending the war in the country. In this part, a regular framework for the end of the conflict, and the implementation and monitoring of a ceasefire are highlighted.

This comes as US Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad met with President Ashraf Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah Chairman of the High Council for National Reconciliation (HCNR) on Saturday to discuss the peace process and the upcoming Istanbul summit.

“Khalilzad met with Ghani twice during the day and discussed the upcoming Istanbul summit, the timeframe, finalization of the list of participants, and the preparations for the conference,” the Presidential Palace said.

HCNR Chairman Abdullah stated in a tweet that he and Khalilzad discussed “the Afghan Peace Process, the Doha talks, internal consensus and preparations for the upcoming conference in Turkey.”

“We welcome the acceleration of the process & achieving a comprehensive political settlement,” Abdullah tweeted.

The Istanbul summit is expected to be held on April 16 in Turkey.