Abdullah says “lasting ceasefire” first issue to be discussed in intra-Afghan talks

The Chairman of the High Council for National Reconciliation Abdullah Abdullah says that a lasting ceasefire will be the first issue that the Afghan delegation would negotiate with the Taliban once the intra-Afghan talks are started.

In an interview with Al Arabiya, Abdullah said: “ The first issue to be discussed will be the issue of ceasefire a sort of long term ceasefire or lasting ceasefire which creates the environmentally better environment for the continuation of negotiations.”

He added that the people of Afghanistan want a dignified and lasting peace as they have suffered more than 40 of war, “over 40 years of war has taken its toll on the people.”

It comes as the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan, and Head of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), Deborah Lyons while briefing the Security Council on the situation in Afghanistan, said that “the level of violence on the battlefield remains deeply worrying.”

She called on the two sides to consider a humanitarian ceasefire as one of the first items on the agenda of Intra- Afghan negotiations.

“For Afghanistan’s most vulnerable people, the stakes could not be higher. I urge all member states to amplify this call as the negotiations begin. And the negotiations will begin,” she noted.

“After four decades of war, the people of Afghanistan have more reason than ever to hope that this devastating conflict may come to an end,” the UN envoy said.

It comes as the intra-Afghan negotiation, aimed to find a political settlement for ending the long-term war in Afghanistan, is expected to kick start soon as the barriers for the process have been removed.