Ayaz Gul VOA News May 3, 2019 ISLAMABAD — An Afghan grand assembly, or loya jirga, ended Friday with the delegates in Kabul demanding peace with the Taliban, as President Ashraf Ghani promised to free 175 Taliban prisoners ahead of Ramadan, which begins in a few days. The Afghan Taliban, for their part, responded harshly to
Ayaz Gul VOA News May 1, 2019 ISLAMABAD — The United States and the Taliban have begun a new round of negotiations in Doha, Qatar, in a bid to advance peace efforts in Afghanistan and to urge the insurgent group to participate in an inclusive intra-Afghan dialogue. U.S. special reconciliation envoy, Zalmay Khalilzad, led the U.S.
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty April 29, 2019 Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has opened a four-day Loya Jirga, or grand assembly, with more than 3,200 delegates seeking to agree on a common approach to peace talks with the Taliban. The Loya Jirga bringing together politicians, tribal elders, and other prominent figures was overshadowed by no-shows by
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty April 28, 2019 Afghanistan is scheduled on April 29 to convene a rare Loya Jirga — a traditional gathering of elders, religious scholars, and prominent Afghans — with more than 2,000 people from across the country having been invited to discuss U.S.-led peace efforts. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s Special Envoy Omar
1TV: Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has asked former Jihadi leader Abdu Rabur Rasool Sayaf to chair the upcoming consultative Loya Jirga on peace due to begin on Monday. Participants from 32 provinces have arrived in Kabul to attend the four-day assembly under a large tent near Polytechnic University. Around 3,000 people are expected to attend the
By RFE/RL’s Radio Free Afghanistan April 14, 2019 KABUL — Afghanistan’s Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah says he will boycott a planned meeting of nearly 2,500 Afghan politicians and tribal, ethnic, and religious leaders aimed at discussing negotiations with the Taliban. Abdullah made the announcement on April 14, about two weeks before the gathering, known as
By RFE/RL’s Radio Free Afghanistan March 3, 2019 KABUL – A planned meeting of hundreds of Afghan politicians and tribal, ethnic, and religious leaders aimed at discussing negotiations with the Taliban has been postponed, officials say. The gathering, known as a consultative Loya Jirga, was initially set to be held in Kabul from March 17-20.
Tolo News: Hizb-e-Islami leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, who is also running for president in July 20 elections, on Thursday said the planned consultative Loya Jirga on peace will not help resolve the stalemate in Afghanistan. This comes ten days after President Ashraf Ghani called for a grand consultative Jirga, a traditional assembly, on the peace process
Ariana: Former President Hamid Karzai who attended the two-day Moscow Talks has called for convening Loya Jirga (Grand Assembly) to resolve the ongoing crisis in the country. Speaking with Russia’s Sputnik News Agency, Karzai hailed Moscow’s role in facilitating the Afghan politicians meeting with the Taliban representatives. Karzai said the outcomes of the Moscow meeting
Michael Hughes: Convening a Loya Jirga, as some Afghan figures have called for recently, is a proper and fitting mechanism for remedying Afghanistan’s political gridlock. That the U.S. is opposed to this solution is not too surprising given indigenous governing mechanisms are antithetical to Washington’s mission to democratize the world, Jeffersonian style. However, Afghans should still