Loya Jirga Serves Personal Purposes of President Ghani: CEO Office

Mujeeb ul Rahman Rahimi, a spokesman for Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah told Ariana News that the Jirga will not have any result and legitimacy.
“The Chief Executive boycotted Ashraf Ghani’s consultative peace Jirga. There is no need for such gathering at the current situation and this gathering lacks the required legitimacy,” said Rahimi.
He further said that the Jirga is an electoral campaign for the President with huge expenses from the government budget.
Meanwhile, a number of Afghan politicians believe that it is too early to convene the Jirga and it may have a negative effect on the Afghan peace process.
“Politicians boycotted this Jirga after a lot of thinking. They understand that this Jirga will take us to a deadlock and will be a hurdle in front of the peace process,” said Sayed Ishaq Gailani, Head of the National Solidarity Movement of Afghanistan.
However, President Ghani at the inauguration of Peace Jirga said that the Jirga will determine the direction of peace talks with the Taliban and he does not want to use the Jirga as a platform for his electoral campaign.
Ghani called for unity, saying let’s sacrifice small interests for big interests.