Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on Monday inaugurated a four-day Loya Jirga, or grand council, to discuss peace talks with the Taliban.

The gathering has been convened amid stepped up diplomatic efforts to end the war in Afghanistan. US officials have held several rounds of talks with Taliban representatives, but the group has refused to negotiate with the Afghan government.
“I am proud that 3,200 representatives of people from across Afghanistan have gathered to determine the limits and framework of negotiations with the Taliban,” Ghani said addressing the assembly in Kabul, which is held under a tight security cover in the capital.
The president reiterated call on the Taliban to inter into talks with the government.
“I am challenging the Taliban if it they don’t have outsiders’ words in their mind, then why do they fear from negotiating with the Afghan nation and the government,” Ghani said.
He emphasized that any peace settlement should be sustainable and reached with deliberation.
“I am not after a fragile and hasty peace agreement,” Ghani said.
The gathering has been convened despite being boycotted by major political figures including Chief Executive Abdullah and Ghani’s predecessor Hamid Karzai.
“The poor, not political elites, are bearing the brunt of conflict, we have not come here for campaigning,” Ghani said at the assembly.
The president said that the secret to “our future lies in or unity, not division.”
“Let’s sacrifice small interests for big interests,” Ghani said.

Meanwhile, chairman of the assembly, Abdu Rab-ur-Rasool Sayyaf said that peace doesn’t mean handing over political power, but it is coexistence.
“We are serious about peace, Taliban should respond positively,” he said.
Sayyaf said that the Afghan Constitution involves an article that no laws in the country could be against Isalmic rules. He said that holding election and consultation is an Islamic principle.
The assembly involves 51 committees who will discuss topics today and tomorrow before presenting their conclusions.