Tuesday, March 27, 2018
Kabul (BNA) In Tashkent Summit opened yesterday in Tashkent, capital city of Uzbekistan, officials and representatives of Afghanistan, the region and world participated.
Taliban was not invited for participation in the summit. Shekib Mustaghni, a spokesperson to Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), said that high-level delegation from various countries of the world and region would participate.
According to Pierre Mayaudon, the European Union (EU) Head of Delegation to Afghanistan, there are two or three aspects regarding the Tashkent conference and it is an important development following Kabul II conference that took place here on 28 of February.
He added that representatives from the world and regional countries would coordinate their visions in connection with Afghanistan peace in the summit.
Doors for peace talks are open, but it is very significant that once peace talks begin.
Omer Samad, an Afghan analyst considers holding of Tashkent Conference as significant.
“The summit is held at a time that Afghanistan’s issue has entered a new dimension. It means that from one side, a new peace plan has been offered to Taliban for peace talks. On the other hand, a quadrilateral meeting between Afghanistan, US, Saudi Arabia and UAE is underway in Washington, showing further importance and seriousness for finding a political settlement for Afghanistan issue,” Omer Samad added.
High-ranking officials attended the Tashkent meeting including UN General Secretary Antonio Guterres and the UN Special Envoy to Afghanistan Tadamichi Yamamoto, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini, as well as the foreign ministers of China, Russia, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, France, Turkey, India, Iran, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
It is determined that the conference will be summed up by a Tashkent Declaration, which will reflect the main visions of the discussion.
The summit is held after President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani suggested new peace offer for talks with the Taliban group at the Kabul II conference. Based on the new peace plans, Afghanistan government was ready to unconditionally hold peace talks with Taliban anywhere the group wanted and the group would be then recognized as a political party. But, armed Taliban group has yet to react regarding Afghanistan government’s peace plan. Previously, Afghan Taliban group had asked for talks with US administration rather than the Afghan government.
The Tashkent Summit on Afghanistan peace titled ‘Afghanistan – Path to a Peaceful Future’ was opened by Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev and his Afghan counterpart President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani yesterday in Tashkent, capital city of Uzbekistan.
He is said that Central Asian countries will honestly help Afghanistan find a political settlement for Afghanistan issue as terrorism is a common pain of the world countries in particular countries in the Central Asia.
Maintaining peace in Afghanistan needs world and regional support. Therefore, we can say that the summit will play effective role in this regard as peace is the best option for Afghanistan.
Uzbekistan hosted the first peace conference on Afghanistan in 1999.
Liloma-Noori
