Afghan Loya Jirga enters 3rd day, dialogue with Taliban discussed

Afghan Loya Jirga enters 3rd day, dialogue with Taliban discussed

The traditional Afghan Loya Jirga or grand assembly of tribal elders, elite, lawmakers and government functionaries, which was inaugurated on Wednesday, debated the government-initiated peace talks in its third day on Friday.

Although no statement was issued, local media reported that government-backed efforts of holding talks with the Taliban outfit came under discussion in Friday's meeting.

The Afghan government has suspended talks with the Taliban since the assassination of Burhanudin Rabbani, the chief of government-backed peace body the High Council for Peace in September.

The ex-president was killed at his home in Kabul on September 20 this year when a man pretended to be a Taliban peace emissary met him and blew himself up.

Participants in the historic Jirga, which was attended by more than 2,300 people, urged the international community to focus on the sanctuaries of the Taliban fighters and to press on their foreign supporters in Friday's meeting, according to the private Tolo television channel.

However, they did not point the finger at any specific foreign nation.

Afghan officials usually say that Taliban insurgents and associated militants have taken shelter in Pakistan's tribal areas along the border with Afghanistan, a claim rejected by Islamabad as baseless.

Taliban militants, who staged a violent comeback some five years ago and since then have been fighting against the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and the Afghan forces, have rejected any talks with the Afghan government in the presence of foreign troops.

In their statements sent to media outlets, the hardliner outfit has conditioned any talks with the Afghan government on the pull out of some 130,000-strong NATO-led forces, with nearly 100,000 of them Americans from the post-Taliban Afghanistan.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai in his opening remarks at the Loya Jirga on Wednesday clarified that the proposed strategic partnership with the United States and peace talks with the Taliban are the two topics to be debated at the four-day assembly.

Any decision taken at the historic Jirga would be forwarded to the parliament for endorsement, and if get approval, it would be promulgated by the president.

English.news.cn   2011-11-18 21:44:49    FeedbackPrintRSS
By Abdul Haleem, Zhang Jianhua

KABUL, Nov. 18 (Xinhua)