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Ghani adamant about handing over power to elected successor
President Ashraf Ghani said on Saturday his basic goal is to be able to hand over power to an elected successor so as to honor all Afghans for the sacrifices they have made.
In an interview with CNN, Ghani said he hopes to do this “through the will of the people.”
“This is crucial to enable us to both honor the sacrifice of our civilians, our activists, and others.”
He also stated that if the goal of a sovereign, democratic, united Afghanistan is maintained then the current peace process will be able to move forward.
“But if the objective of the Taliban is to dominate and give us the peace of the grave, then that will have very negative consequences.
“Our society is united in seeking peace but we want to have a positive peace,” Ghani said.
Also in the interview was First Lady Rula Ghani who said the constructive participation of women at the Doha peace talks was a positive development.
She said the female peace negotiators for the Afghan Republic’s team were actively involved in the talks and had progressed from representing only women, to representing all of Afghanistan.
She said: “The Taliban are our brothers and our sisters and as Afghans, they have the right to come and live in Afghanistan,” adding that the question that needed to be asked was whether the Taliban had the right to bring their own way of thinking and impose it on the rest of the population.
She also said if the Taliban have political ambition “they can do it through the electoral process”.
The president meanwhile said: “We are in an open moment; the incoming [Joe] Biden administration is an immense opportunity - to work with us a) to define what the US security interests in Afghanistan and the region are - no one wants a return to a heavy footprint.”
He said the second point was that it was essential to end 40 years of conflict and thirdly, the peace process needs to be truly owned and led by the Afghan people.
Ghani also said the scale and scope of US presence in Afghanistan needs to be defined. “Here the most critical issue is how to marry a conditions-based approach with a time-based approach,” he said.
“My basic goal is to be able to hand power through the will of the people to my elected successor. This is crucial to enable us to both honor the sacrifice of our civilivilans, our activists, and others,” Ghani stated.
He also stated, “one thing needs to be clear Afghan society is not willing to go back and we are not the type of society that the Taliban type approach of the past can be imposed on us.”
“That was the peace of the graveyard, he said.
Ghani stated the country wants “a positive peace where all of us can overcome our past and embrace each other and rebuild an Afghanistan where all peace and countries can interact.”
On the issue of troops withdrawal, Ghani said: “We are on the frontline of your (US) security,” and stated the key issue is not about charity but about responsibility.
He asked the question of what is the threat of terrorism? Also is it a system or is it individuals?
He also said that since 2015, US lives lost in Afghanistan totals 98, "while we the Afghan people have lost over 40,000 civilians and military".
But if "US would like to withdraw [troops], all we ask for is a process that is predictable,” and one that is mutually agreed upon, he stated.
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Human traffickers should be sentenced to 1 to 3 years in prison: IEA leader
The Leader of the Islamic Emirate has issued a decree instructing the Ministry of Interior Affairs to prevent human trafficking and to arrest and refer culprits to military courts.
The decree containing six articles says that that military courts should sentence human traffickers to one year in prison for the first time, two years if repeated for the second time and three years if repeated for the third time.
The ministries of Hajj, information, telecommunications, borders, propagation of virtue, as well as religious scholars are asked to inform the public about the dangers and adverse consequences of travelling through smuggling routes.
The decree comes as the rate of migration has increased following the political change in Afghanistan in 2021.
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Eight Afghan migrants die as boat capsizes off Greek island
Eight Afghan migrants died after a speedboat carrying migrants capsized off Greece's eastern island of Rhodes on Friday, the Associated Press reported.
Greek authorities said that the capsizing was the result of the boat’s maneuvering to evade a patrol vessel.
A total of 18 migrants — 12 men, three women and three minors — all Afghan nationals, were rescued, Greece's coast guard said Saturday. The dead were also from Afghanistan, it said.
Some migrants remained hospitalized, with one in critical condition, authorities said.
Two Turkish citizens, ages 23 and 19, were arrested as the suspected traffickers. The boat sank after capsizing, the coast guard said.
The sinking off Rhodes was the second deadly incident involving migrants in the past week.
Seven migrants were killed and dozens were believed missing after a boat partially sank south of the island of Crete over the weekend — one of four rescue operations during which more than 200 migrants were rescued.
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Norwegian Chargé d’Affaires meets with IEA deputy foreign minister
Welcoming the diplomat’s visit to Kabul, Stanikzai underscored the importance of political relations between Afghanistan and Norway, the foreign ministry said in a statement.
The Norwegian Chargé d’Affaires for Afghanistan, Per Albert Ilsaas, on Saturday met with IEA’s Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs, Sher Muhammad Abbas Stanikzai, in Kabul.
Welcoming the diplomat’s visit to Kabul, Stanikzai underscored the importance of political relations between Afghanistan and Norway, the foreign ministry said in a statement.
In addition to focusing on bilateral political, humanitarian, and other pertinent issues, the two sides expressed hope that continued engagement would lead to constructive solutions to related issues.
This comes two weeks after the Foreign Ministry Spokesman Abdul Qahar Balkhi expressed disappointment regarding the decision by the Norwegian government to downgrade diplomatic relations with Afghanistan.
Balkhi said in a post on X that such decisions should not be linked with internal affairs of other countries.
“Diplomatic engagement is most effective when it fosters mutual understanding and respect, even amidst differing viewpoints,” he stated.
“Access to consular services is a fundamental right of all nationals. We strongly urge all parties to prioritize this principle in the spirit of international cooperation,” he added.
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