Ghani: Can we change bullets to ballots?

President Ashraf Ghani has underlined the need for working concurrently on developing the country’s economy and improving the security environment.

President Ashraf Ghani has underlined the need for working concurrently on developing the country’s economy and improving the security environment.

“Our challenge is simultaneity. You cannot make the economy wait for security. You have to be able to do it … What is important about our people: they take a certain degree of insecurity as contextual…”

Hit by 40 years of conflict, the Afghans wanted to see work on dams, livelihood and connectivity projects,” the president said in a wide-ranging interview with the Time magazine.

He recalled the spontaneous celebrations across the country on the completion of the Indian-funded Salma Dam in western Herat province. It was the first dam completed in 40 years.

He urged US taxpayers to continue paying for America’s longest war in Afghanistan, saying Kabul-Washington cooperation on combating terrorism was based on mutual interest.

Ghani said the cost of war had significantly decline after the withdrawal of combat troops from Afghanistan. He added the current number of foreign troops was one-tenth of what that was, meaning the costs were also one-tenth.

About the possible deployment of 3,000-5,000 more US troops, he said that Afghanistan needed advice at the division and corps command level. But it is at the division level where Afghan forces needed additional support, he explained.

He acknowledged is corruption in police ranks, saying he had forcibly retired over 150 generals, who were given several extensions, at the Ministry of Defence in the last two years. Reorganising the security forces was critical to sustainability, he argued.

On the growing threat from the Taliban, Ghani said the security forces could hold them back. The Taliban and their supporters wanted to overthrow the government and create two political geographies, he alleged.

The militants were able to take control of Kunduz province momentarily, but they could not capture a single provincial] capital, the president said.

“What I am saying is we are not about to collapse. We have been able both years [2015 and 2016] to contain immense onslaughts at a time when, because of Congressional sanctions against Russia, we had no airpower…”

Afghanistan could secure, after knocking on the doors of over 50 countries, four helicopters from India. Contingent upon President Donald Trump’s approval, he expected a major overhaul of the Afghan air force, a doubling of special forces.

Ghani tended to support the dropping of the so-called Mother of All Bombs on ISIS fighters in the Achin district of eastern Nangarhar province. The massive ordnance destroyed a significant group of Daesh leaders, he claimed.

Daesh’s pathology is to swallow its opponents and frighten the population, according to the president, who said: “In that regard, the threat is very real.” The group’s attempted recruitment is of a different standard, so it must be taken seriously.

He stoutly defended the peace deal with Gulbadin Hekmatyar, asking if the accord in Northern Ireland underlined the culture of impunity. How many Nazis were prosecuted after World War II, he questioned.

“They key issue is: can we change bullets to ballots? Bullets will flow and will kill. Can we shift the conflicts among us to the political arena? Our failure in the past has been a failure of politics.”

He confirmed communication with many Taliban, who approached the government. But the discussions needed to be principled and open, he stressed. “We are not closing the door… It’s going to be through the Afghan Peace Council and through a properly constituted delegation, along the lines that we did it in Murree.”

Ghani declined commenting on US allegations that Russia was supporting the Taliban. Instead he called for engagement and a regional consensus on how to end the war in Afghanistan. “We have work to do with Russia and I hope that it will be productive.”

He said a stable Pakistan was in Afghanistan’s interest, and vice versa. He hoped the US, having sacrificed so much in blood and treasure, could help Pakistan normalize itself.

Ghani deplored Afghan refugees in Iran, Pakistan and Greece were in difficult conditions. “And we need to be able to prepare. Again, it forces us to speed up certain parts of the economy.”

Pajhwok

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