Talks on Afghanistan: a "road map for peace" established

In Doha, representatives of the Kabul government, members of civil society, women's rights activists and Taliban leaders meet.  The target of "zero" civiliian victims;  protect public institutions such as schools;  respect women's rights as is the Islamic tradition.

Doha (AsiaNews) - A "road map for peace" that is paving the way for a peaceful solution to the 18 years of war in Afghanistan: This is the historic preliminary agreement between representatives of the Kabul government and Taliban leaders reached last night in Doha, in  Qatar.  The result of the so-called "intra-Afghan" talks is the first real result after years of negotiations and failures.

The conference was held in Doha on 7-8 July and was sponsored by Germany and Qatar.  This time the United States was absent, having previously conducted several rounds of talks.  The previous dialogue failed mainly due to the Taliban's hostility towards the foreign military presence on Afghan territory and the criticism of the administration of President Ashraf Ghani, considered a "puppet" government employed by Washington.

50 senior government officials, members of civil society and women activists, in support of the Afghan female world gathered inthe Qatari capital along with 17 leaders of the Islamic militants.  The meeting ended with a joint statement in which both sides pledged to "respect and protect the dignity of the people, the lives of people and their property and reduce civilian victims to zero".

The two sides have reached an important agreement on the will to "monitor and observe the peace agreement", which includes "the repatriation of migrants and the return of internally displaced persons (IDPs)".

Some of those present wanted to emphasize that the joint declaration is not a peace agreement, but rather represents "recommendations" to obtain peace, the "bases" for starting a serious discussion on the future of the country battered by 18 years of civil war.  Here every day life is in danger due to the attacks, children do not go to school and the artistic heritage is plundered by unscrupulous art traffickers.

Speaking of education, intra-Afghan talks also underlined the need to "ensure the security of public institutions, including schools, madrassas [Koranic schools], hospitals, markets, dams and workplaces".

Finally, women's rights are an important issue. Under the Taliban government (1996-2001) they were subjected to discrimination, deprived of the right to study, to meet and to live a dignified life, and where exposig one's wrist could lead to the cutting off of the hand.  The participants of the Doha conference pledged "to ensure that women's rights are guaranteed in the political, social, economic, educational and cultural sphere, within the framework of Islamic values".