Khalilzad meets with Ghani twice in one day over peace proposal

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.

In Kabul, the government and Afghan politicians are working on peace plans to be addressed at the Istanbul summit.

Ghani is expected to propose his three-phase peace roadmap at the conference.

Ghani’s roadmap – from an unending war towards a just and lasting peace proposal 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.

On the other hand, the Afghan Political Parties Committee said Saturday it would present a separate peace plan at the Istanbul summit on the Afghan peace process, which is due to be held next week in Turkey.

The committee includes major Afghan political parties such as Gulbuddin Hekmatyar-led Hizb-e-Islami; Hizb-e-Wahdad Islami led by Former Vice President Mohammad Karimi Khalili; Hizb-e-Wahdad led by Mohammad Mohaqiq; Hizb-e-Jamiat Islami led by Salahuddin Rabbani; Junbish-i-Milli led by Marshal Abdul Rashid Dostum; Hezb-e-Mahaz-e-Mili Islami-e-Afghanistan led by Sayed Hamed Gailani, and Afghan Millat Party led by Anwar al-Haq Ahadi.

Mohammad Homayoun Jarir, a member of Hizb-e-Islami, stated that the parties, as government opposition, would share a joint plan for Afghan peace at the Istanbul conference.

“We have made a separate plan for the parties committee. We will participate in the summit as the opposition. So far we (Hizb-e-Islami party) have not handed over any plan to the High Council for National Reconciliation,” Jarir said.

Meanwhile, Mahiuddin Mehdi, a member of the Jamiat Islami party, called on the participants to discuss a federal system for Afghanistan.

“As far as we know, a Presidential Structure has not yielded any results in Afghanistan, and we must terminate the centralized system and reach a result over a decentralized system (federalism),” Mehdi said.