Ceasef­ire and intra-Afghan dialog­ue remain elusiv­e and reconc­iliati­on effort­s have not yet yielde­d result­sThe Taliban have once again rejected an offer by President Ashraf Ghani for a Ramazan ceasefire. The offer came at the conclusion of a Loya Jirga, or grand assembly, convened earlier this week in Kabul with over 3,000 Afghans that unanimously called for a peace dialogue with the Taliban to end the 18-year-long war. These challenges of navigating Kabul politics ahead of a presidential election scheduled for September will need to be surmounted for sustainable peace in Afghanistan. The Taliban too must be convinced to engage in an intra-Afghan dialogue at the earliest as the window for finalising a peace deal shrinks. Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.

Source: The Express Tribune May 05, 2019 04:52 UTC