Afghanistan Diary
PESHAWAR: Amid growing demands for convening the Loya Jirga and holding the long overdue Wolesi Jirga (National Assembly) election to recommend solutions to some of the serious challenges confronting Afghanistan, the newly established opposition alliance, Afghanistan Protection and Stability Council, has added its voice to the chorus.
The alliance brought together former mujahideen leaders such as Prof Sayyaf and Yunus Qanooni, National Party Leadership Council chief Sadiq Mudabbir, out of job former senior government officials including the former Interior Minister Omar Daudzai, and politicians still holding jobs. The last category includes the Speaker of Wolesi Jirga, Abdul Rauf Ibrahimi and the Mesharano Jirga (Senate) chairman Fazal Hadi Muslimyar.
Though the opposition front maintained that it would work as a pressure group and push the unity government to deliver on its pledges to strengthen security, bring reforms and improve the economy, critics said it was set up to blackmail the beleaguered President Ashraf Ghani and CEO Dr Abdullah to seek favours and positions in the government.
Regarding the growing demand for convening the traditional Loya Jirga, President Ghani’s office recently issued a statement that the constitutional Loya Jirga instead of the traditional Loya Jirga would be convened once the legal requirements were met. The statement said: “A constitutional Loya Jirga needs to include the Wolesi Jirga, district councils and tribal elders. As there are no district councils in Afghanistan at present, holding such a Loya Jirga is impossible before holding local council elections.”
Former president Hamid Karzai and his supporters have been demanding holding of traditional Loya Jirga, but CEO Dr Abdullah recently said the unity government is against this proposal and will not bow to any pressure on this point. However, the opposition including the recently formed alliance and Karzai supporters pointed out that the unity government had promised to convene the Loya Jirga within two years to create the post of prime minister for CEO Dr Abdullah and take decisions about other important issues, but it has yet to take the initial steps to this end.
President Ghani’s office insisted that the unity government had already started preparations for holding constitutional Loya Jirga and the moves to bring electoral reforms was part of these preparations.
Meanwhile, the illegal armed groups operating in different parts of the country are being criticized not only by the public and members of the civil society and some politicians, but also by government officials. A senior military commander has now accused such groups of creating security problems for the government and attempting to gain control over natural resources.
Maj Gen Sher Aziz Kamawal, commander of the 808th Spinzar police zone comprising of Badakhshan, Baghlan, Kunduz and Takhar provinces, claimed warlords heading the illegal armed groups were collecting illegal taxes from lapis lazuli, gold, salt and coalmines and were also involved in drug-trafficking. He said Taliban also get a share from the illegal mining and smuggling operations. He pointed out that the number of foreign fighters has increased in these four provinces in the last two years and were paying the Taliban to seek protection.
The police commanders in Badakhshan, Takhar, Kunduz and Baghlan provinces have also complained of lack of support from the central government to cope with the challenge posed by the militants. They stressed the need for starting punitive action to flush out the militants from the areas under their control in northern Afghanistan. Such operations are already being planned in Baghlan and Kunduz. In both these provinces, Taliban have extended their control and set up a parallel administration and courts in certain areas. There are reports that an increasing number of people are approaching the Taliban courts as they dispense quick justice at almost no cost compared to the government’s cumbersome and often corrupt judicial system.
Meanwhile, the Taliban promptly denied the claim made by Zamir Kabulov, Russia’s special envoy for Afghanistan and a former ambassador to Kabul that Russia had maintained links with the Taliban and now they have a common interest in fighting the Islamic State (Daesh).
Though Taliban didn’t deny their contacts with Russia, a statement issued by the Taliban movement said they had not held talks with anyone about countering the Islamic State. The Taliban statement stressed that they didn’t need anyone’s support to fight against the Islamic State. It claimed that Taliban had dismantled the Islamic State structure in Afghanistan and restricted it to just one province (Nangarhar).
Though Taliban have never publicly confirmed reports that its Qatar office members have travelled to Moscow a few times for talks, it seems to be true.