KHOST CITY (Pajhwok): President Ashraf Ghani during a trip to southeastern Khost province on Saturday said the Taliban should come to the negotiating table if they sincerely wanted peace and not to fight for the interests of others.
President Ghani arrived in Khost city at the head of a high level delegation to inaugurate Khost Civilian Airport.
The president was accompanied by first VP AmrullahSaleh, general director of Administrative Affairs of the Presidential Palace, FazalMahmodFazli, Independent Directorate of Local Governance (IDLG) head, Shamim Khan Katawazi and some other officials.
The president first inaugurated the airport and later met with a number of tribal elders, religious scholars, civil society activists and youths in Khost govenor’s house.
Talking to the meeting, Ghani said that Khost Airport was one of the country’s important airports and would be gradually upgraded for international flights.
In addition to passengers from Khost, Paktia and Paktika, the airport would also facilitate flights for passengers from South Waziristan and North Waziristan to the UAE and other countries, he said.
He said that exports from Khost, Paktia and Paktika would be also facilitated from Khost Airport in the future.
Terminal building, Water Tower, vehicle parking lot and aerial traffic control building have been newly constructed at a cost of 911 million afghanis.
About complaints of Khost people that the province is ranked as a second grade province, the president directed Shamim Khan Katawazi to provide all necessary resources for Khost to promote the province to the first grade.
Ghani also promised 15 million afghanis for procurement of school books in Khost and said that he would pay five million of the money from his personal budget.
About peace, Ghani said that the Taliban should come to the negating table if the group was honest about peace with the government and not fighting for others.
“If the Taliban love their country, they should promise not to accept the Durand Line, not to turn Afghanistan into a single route from an intersection, and they should promise not to sell water,” he said.
He blamed the Taliban for the ongoing violence which he said caused casualties to hundreds of Afghans on a daily basis.
All should learn from Syria, Yemen, Iraq, Algeria and Lebanon and it was better for the Taliban to arrive at talks today than tomorrow, he added.
Concluding his speech, Ghani talked about women’s rights and said that the women’s rights would not be compromised and they would be provided with all rights as enshrined in Sharia.
Mds/ma
