Nov 22, 2011

16 – 19 November 2011
After four days of discussions and debates, over 2,000 participants of the traditional LoyaJerga (Grand Assembly) in Kabul have decided that having a strategic partnership pact with the USA was in favour of Afghanistan and that peace talks in the country must continue. The jerga issued a resolution of 76 articles as recommendations to the Afghan government in its negotiations with the USA on strategic partnership and its peace talks with the insurgents. The following is text of the resolution read out by secretaries and spokespersons of the jerga, SafiaSeddiqi and FazelKarimAimaq, in Dari and Pashto and aired live on state-owned National Afghanistan TV on 19 November; subheadings as read out by the spokespersons:
In terms of politics
While emphasizing the need for maintaining achievements of the past 10 years; respecting the constitution of Afghanistan, women rights and freedom of the media, and while considering the ruling situation in the region, strategic cooperation with the USA, which is a strategic partner of the system and people of Afghanistan, is considered as a need in order to ensure political, economic and military security in the country. The signing of a strategic cooperation document with the USA is favourable for the national interests of Afghanistan and is highly important, because a strategic cooperation agreement with the USA will ensure political and military security of Afghanistan in the region.
The recommendation of the jerga members for the Afghan government is to consider the following policies while negotiating any kinds of deals, particularly while negotiating the strategic cooperation agreement with the USA:
1. Religious sanctities, culture and traditions of the people of Afghanistan must be respected without any shortcoming.
2. Afghanistan’s national sovereignty and independence should be respected. And there should be a clear guarantee that they will not be violated.
3. Afghan laws must be respected.
4. Afghanistan should be excluded from the provisions of Article 7 of the UN Convention and included in Article 6 of the convention.
5. The strategic cooperation document should be prepared in three languages – Dari, Pashto and English – and it should start with words of ‘In the name of God the Most Merciful and Compassionate’.
6. Night operations conducted by the American forces must be afghanized as soon as possible.
7. All military operations must be under the command of the security forces of Afghanistan. The American forces must avoid arbitrary operations without coordination with the Afghan security forces and they should respect national sovereignty of the country.
8. Residential houses must not be searched by the foreign forces. In case it is necessary, any kind of house searches must be conducted by the domestic forces and the process must be afghanized.
9. The term of enforcement of the strategic agreement should start as soon as possible after the document is signed.
10. In case the strategic cooperation document is going to be signed, the two sides [Afghanistan and the USA] must agree on guarantees of its implementation as well as specific details of the document.
11. The USA should promise that it will end parallel structures alongside the government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and that it will cooperate with respective government bodies in performing their duties.
12. Members of the jerga are against the permanent presence of America in Afghanistan, but there is no problem if the foreign forces remain in Afghanistan until the Afghan government becomes capable of protecting its territory independently. Therefore, any kind of strategic cooperation document signed with the USA must be temporary and end in the next 10 years.
13. America shall not interfere in affairs related to the National Assembly, political structures and judicial affairs in Afghanistan or have prisons on Afghan land. Therefore, the responsibility of all American prisons, which exist on Afghan territory, must be transferred to the Afghan government along with all its prisoners as soon as possible.
14. During the period when the strategic cooperation document is applicable, the USA should equip and supply the Afghan security forces with all kinds of modern ground and air military equipment and facilities.
15. The USA should take immediate actions in terms of rehabilitation, training, equipping and arming of the air forces of Afghanistan.
16. In case the people’s demand in terms of equipping of the security forces is not responded to, the Afghan government should take necessary action from its side after analyzing the situation.
17. The USA should make specific commitments in terms of provision of scholarships and grounds for high education in different areas.
18. The strategic cooperation document should be considered as credible after it is confirmed and approved by the country’s National Assembly [parliament].
19. In order to make sure that the strategic cooperation document is respected and implemented, the document should be registered in the United Nations and they [the Americans] should make commitments that they will act in accordance with the provisions of the document in a timely manner.
20. America and Afghanistan should sign the document as two equal and independent countries taking into consideration common intergovernmental principles.
21. It should be mentioned in the document that in case a third country attacks Afghanistan, the USA will support Afghanistan.
22. The USA should support the Afghan citizens, particularly the Afghan refugees outside the country and in case there are any problems, it should exert pressure on the host countries.
23. The USA should guarantee that Afghanistan will not change into an arena for political competitions.
24. The USA should guarantee that it will help the peace process in Afghanistan and that strategic cooperation of the US will also cover other issues like peace.
25. Specialists should deeply assess, construe and analyse the strategic cooperation document.
26. The term of the strategic cooperation document should be 10 years and it should be extendible after completion.
27. Afghanistan and the USA should have the equal right of nullifying the cooperation document.
28. The USA should assist the Afghan government resolve its disputes and conflicts [with neighbouring countries] on water resources.
29. After this document is signed, any other cooperation documents or contracts signed during the interim, transitional and first elected presidential term should be considered as null and void.
30. In case the document is signed, the change of the political system in one of the two signatory countries shall not mean a change in the document.
In terms of defence and security
The security transition process from the foreign military forces to the Afghan security forces is going to be completed in 2014. Therefore, while security assistance of big countries of the world continues to the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, strategic cooperation of the USA with Afghanistan is vitally important given the fact that the security and stability in our country is still faced with domestic and foreign threats. Therefore, the Afghan people expect the USA to do the following in terms of equipping and training the Afghan security forces:
31. The USA should cooperate Afghanistan in averting foreign aggressions if requested by the Afghans in a timely manner taking into consideration international standards.
32. American citizens should not have judicial immunity if they commit crimes in Afghanistan and they should be put on trial inside the country in accordance with the existing Afghan laws.
33. The American military forces will live in their military facilities under the flag of Afghanistan and they shall respect the constitution of the country.
34. Unless it is against terrorism or is because of a war, no military action can be conducted against other countries from Afghan territory. The USA should respect this principle and present specific guarantees in terms of its implementation.
35. The USA should pave the way for Afghanistan to be able to effectively protect its borders.
36. The USA should bring considerable changes in its anti-terrorism and counter-narcotics strategies and target the main nests of terrorism and eliminate them.
37. The strategic cooperation document with the USA must be a treaty or an agreement not a declaration or something lower than a treaty or agreement.
38. While stressing the fact that the USA and the international community have assisted appreciably in the area of creating, training and equipping the country’s security forces, members of the jerga want that the promises of the USA will continue in accordance with the schedule in terms of equipping the Afghan security forces with modern equipment and training them.
39. In terms of defence and security cooperation between America and Afghanistan, and the usage of military facilities of the country in the current time and after 2014, the Afghan government should respect the applicable international standards and principles. The number and type of facilities, which the USA wants to have on the Afghan land, should be specified right now.
40. In case of agreement, the military facilities and soldiers must be outside the cities, residential areas and away from mines and underground resources.
41. It should be preferred that the military facilities are deployed near the Afghan borders with neighbouring countries, particularly with countries from where Afghanistan is threatened.
42. A clear mechanism should be prepared and implemented regarding compensation for the privately-owned properties where military facilities are built for the American forces.
43. The USA cannot use these facilities to reinforce the opposition of the government.
44. The USA is responsible for paying sufficient budget annually for capacity-building, reconstruction, reinforcement of the country’s security forces, and development in other areas such as education, health care, electricity facilities, extraction of mines, and agriculture for using military facilities of Afghanistan.
In terms of economic and social development
Taking into consideration the economic growth and self-sufficiency of the Afghan government, our people expect that the USA will pay attention to the following issues in order to help ensure economic and social development:
45. The USA should make specific and scheduled commitments in terms of financial and monetary assistance to Afghanistan.
46. A bigger percentage of the assisted money should be spent through the budget of the Afghan government and in accordance with the priorities.
47. More attention should be paid to the reconstruction of infrastructures in Afghanistan.
48. Trade and foreign investment should be stressed in order to ensure economic development in Afghanistan.
49. Given the sensitive geographical location of Afghanistan as a connecting point between Central Asia, South Asia and the Middle East, more cooperation and attention should be made in the area of trade and transit.
50. Since Afghanistan is a rich country in terms of natural resources, and extraction of mines plays a major role in stability of the country, the USA should assist in terms of attracting investments in and developing mines in a transparent way so that it will favour the Afghan people more.
51. The USA should cooperate in giving loans to the private sector.
52. The USA should strictly avoid reserving and using chemical, biological and nuclear weapons in Afghanistan. It should also cooperate with the Afghan government in avoiding burying wastes of nuclear weapons as well as in the area of environment protection.
53. The USA should assist Afghanistan in the area of industrial growth and development considerably.
54. The USA’s cooperation should be increasing in the area of health care.
Peace process, national reconciliation and joining peaceful life
55. Since peace is an order of God, and an urgent need of the people of Afghanistan, it is necessary to continue the process. But we want the performance of the process to be changed given the experiences of the past one year. The peace process should be national and the government should adopt measures in all its dimensions taking into consideration recommendations of this jerga.
56. The 16-article resolution issued by the Consultative Peace Jerga was the results of three-day discussions and recommendations. We review them again. All the points mentioned there are necessary and applicable. They need to be seriously and precisely implemented. The current strategies are necessary to the success of the national programmes. While tactics have changed with the change of the situation, the government should not relate its performance on daily happenings. It should adopt a new policy and address the shortages.
57. Martyrdom of Prof BorhanoddinRabbani – former president, chairman of the peace council and leader of jihad and resistance of the people of Afghanistan – seriously damaged the peace process. We strongly condemn the inhuman and un-Islamic action. We believe in peace and we ask the government and the High Peace Council to seriously continue the path of the martyr professor and not allow the country’s enemies to achieve their calamitous goals such as failure of the peace process, creation of distrust among the people of Afghanistan and preventing the armed opponents from joining the peace process. More work should be done towards the improvement of relations between people and the government, because the current situation is the result of penetration of terrorist agents of the enemies in the country. The case of Rabbani’s assassination should be completed and the perpetrators must be prosecuted.
58. Members of the jerga request Pakistan to accept the Afghan delegation assigned to investigate the assassination of the leader of jihad and peace in Afghanistan and cooperate with them in the area of finding the facts.
59. In case the delegation fails, the international community is asked to appoint a high-ranking delegation to investigate the issue.
60. Members of the jerga ask the international community to cooperate with the peace process in Afghanistan and exert pressures on the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Islamic Republic of Pakistan in order to restrict activities of terrorist networks.
61. The government should seriously work towards identifying factors why our compatriots are joining armed opponent groups.
62. The government should try to use mosques for positive propagation because they are currently used by the armed opponents for negative propaganda.
63. The government should pave the way for higher religious education inside the country so that children of the country will not have to go outside the country for religious education and be hunted by terrorism.
64. Success of any strategy and policy is dependent on the strength of the leadership; therefore, we ask the president of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan [Hamed Karzai] to appoint some other gracious, influential and elder person as chairman of the High Peace Council. The structure and number of the members of the High Peace Council should be reconsidered and effectiveness and commitment should be considered in this regard.
65. The structure of the High Peace Council, its sub-structures and other governmental structures should be reviewed. One person should not perform several important governmental duties.
66. The budget of the High Peace Council, its financial sources and its expenditure policies must be reviewed.
67. Peace talks with leaders of the opponents should be conducted from a strong position based on comprehensive analysis of the realities, political and security situation in the region. Mobilization of collaboration of people and the government, as well as the attraction of support and cooperation of regional and world countries can help Afghanistan get to this position.
68. Taking into consideration the recent developments, we consider the following as necessary for developing a peace policy and we recommend:
a. There should be a clear definition of friends, opponents and enemies so that the peace process will be implemented in accordance to it.
b. Negotiations should take place with those individuals who have an Afghan identity; their accurate address is clear and who want a political solution in the country as a legitimate political process.
c. Everyone knows that [armed] opposition leaders live in Pakistan and specific networks have close relations with them in that country. There is a need for peace efforts in Afghanistan and for honest cooperation of Pakistan in this regard. Jerga members ask Pakistan to change its policy towards Afghanistan and instead of creating security tensions, which have also extended to Pakistan; they should honestly cooperate in eliminating them.
d. The doors of peace should remain open for those who want to return to peaceful life and give up violence. Full attention should be paid so the bitter experiences of the past will not be repeated. The identity of those, who join the process, must be precisely clarified. In addition, the safety and security of those who honestly join the peace process should be ensured. Problems of those, who are harmed by terrorist activities, should be addressed accurately and in a timely manner.
e. More attention should be paid to the process inside the country in provinces, districts and villages so that people will have the spirit of trust and ownership. The peace process must be implemented in parallel with the security transition, good governance and general development in the country. The shortages in provincial peace committees must be addressed after they are reviewed. Civilian and military officials should support the committees comprehensively. Tribal elders, religious scholars, peace activists and other individuals, who are targets of terrorist attacks, should be secured through adoption of security measures.
f. In order to continue research on peace, a peace studies centre should be created and an international peace conference should be held in one of the Islamic countries where the message of peace and verdict, which declares war illegitimate, will be given to the world people.
g. Poverty is a major challenge before ensuring security in the districts and villages of the country. The government should pay full attention to the provision of jobs and education for the people.
69. The government and the High Peace Council should start intensive activities towards promotion of peace in the country in cooperation with other respective organizations, mosques, religious centres, civil society institutions and cultural activists of the country so that the people will have a clear vision about the close relation between the peace process, the security transition process, regional and international cooperation, strategic cooperation with the USA and other countries and so they will take active part in the peace process in the light of that vision.
70. We emphasize that the peace process should move on under the leadership of the Afghans. While we thank the international community’s support in this regard, we ask for the continuation of their assistance as well as cooperation of regional countries and the Islamic world. In the meantime, we ask them to avoid parallel activities without informing the Afghan government or the High Peace Council which paves the way for intelligence games.
71. We ask all the neighbouring and regional countries to stop competing over their influence in Afghanistan by using the tools of destabilization and instead help the people of Afghanistan in close cooperation with each other, because it favours everybody so that the Afghans will get to peace after three decades of sacrifice. In fact, peace and stability in Afghanistan means peace and stability in the region. The Afghan government should pursue an active and durable policy in this regard.
72. We, members of the jerga, ask the opponents and their leaders, wherever they are, to treat the Afghan people responsibly. Today, the ground has been prepared for negotiations and talks and we can undo the knots with our hands. The Afghans should not be used as tools to achieve others’ goals in Afghanistan, because it will have no benefits but bloodshed of thousands of other Afghans and endangerment of the national interests of the country. Of course, the responsibility of the future will be attributed to those who have ignored the orders of God and demands of the Afghan nation by continuing killings and assassinations.
73. We ask members of the secretariat of the commission for preparation of the traditional LoyaJerga to officially submit the recommendations of the 40 working committees to the government and the High Peace Council so that they will adopt specific measures in accordance with the detailed recommendations.
74. The government officials, who are involved in destabilizing the system with the help of strangers, must be expelled from their positions so that order and stability is ensured in the country.
75. In order to get to durable peace and solve problems in Afghanistan and the region soon, the Afghan government should seriously talk with the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
76. US officials should avoid conducting secret talks with the leaders of the Taleban and opponents.
Source: National Afghanistan TV, Kabul, in Dari and Pashto 19 Nov 11