Kabul hails Sri Lankan party’s call for end to Afghan war

KABUL (Pajhwok): Afghanistan has welcomed a statement from the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) on the peace process and the party’s call for a lasting ceasefire between the warring sides.

The SLMC statement follows calls from other Muslim nations and Islamic scholars for an immediate end to the daily acts of terrorism and violence perpetrated by the Taliban and their affiliates.

“We unequivocally condemn the ongoing terror attacks taking place in Afghanistan and wish to point out that there is no Islamic justification whatsoever for such indiscriminate violence to achieve political objectives,” the party said.

Afghan Ambassador to Sri Lanka Ashraf Haidari said commented: “Even though we were not a party to the US-Taliban deal, the government in Kabul made an unprecedented concession for the sake of peace: releasing over 5,000 Taliban prisoners.”

In return, rather than deescalating violence and committing to a ceasefire, the Taliban had violated their own commitments under the US deal by targeting more civilians across the country, the ambassador lamented.

“We encourage the Taliban to shed foreign control and to pursue independently a path to sustainable peace, consistent with the achievements made by Afghanistan over the past 20 years,” he added.

pr/mud