Efforts to engage Taliban yielded no progress: CEO

KABUL to assist the peace process have yielded no concrete results over the past two years, the chief executive officer (CEO) said on Thursday.

Foreign terrorists and militants were engaged in a low-intensity conflict across several provinces to disrupt peace and security by committing suicide attacks and killing innocent civilians, Dr. Abdullah said.

Addressing the 15th meeting of the Council of Heads of Governments of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in Bishkek, he said the militants were facing stiff resistance from Afghan’svaliant security forces.

“Meanwhile, our effort for just and durable peace will continue,” the CEO promised, saying his government had been focused on preserving the hard-gained achievements of the past 15 years.

Kabul had taken major steps to fight terrorism, improve governance, expand rule of law, curb corruption, implement electoral reform, enhance regional cooperation and create opportunities for private-sector activityinvestment, he claimed.

The recent Brussels Conference was a great success, a strong reaffirmation of mutual commitments between the Afghan government and the international community, believed Abdullah, a former foreign minister.

Abdullah observed: “Today, we meet again within the SCO framework to review and discuss vital issues pertaining to our collective peace, security and prosperity.These three vital objectives cannot be achieved without a common vision, political will, coordination and cooperation.”

Through SCO and other viable regional mechanisms, he said, the vision could be translated into a reality. Afghanistan attachedgreat importance to SCO as a regional platform for addressing international terrorism, violent extremism, separatism and narcotics through confidence-building and enhanced economic and security cooperation.

Afghanistan’s request for full-fledged membership of SCO was indicative of its firm resolve to participate in and contribute to discussions and policy lines adopted by the forum. He urged members to support Afghanistan’s attempt.

With regional cooperation, he hoped Afghanistan would emerge as a regional hub and economic roundabout for trade, transit, energy transfer and connectivity in the heart of Asia. He also noted progress on TAPI, CASA-1000 and the Chabahar projects.

“We are all fully aware that terrorism and extremism, which involves ISIL or Daesh, are major threats to our shared peace and stability. Terrorism is the enemy of all humanityand terrorists belong to no particular ethnicity, region or religion, as they do not recognise borders. There is no good and bad terrorist. We need to fight them together,” he continued. 

Abdullah hoped SCO would continue to make progress with its win-win agenda, play a more active and constructive rolein furthering regional economic cooperation and addressing regional security challenges.

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