Journalists and civil society activists from war-torn Afghanistan have assured the international community that the country will not explode even if American troops leave.
The Afghan National Army (ANA) and other law-enforcement agencies were successfully tackling the challenges and the people of Afghanistan largely feel proud of what they have achieved during the last one-and-half decade tackling the menace of terrorism, they said at a round table discussion on ‘Afghanistan Today’ at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club (FCC) last evening.
Twelve journalists and social activists from Afghanistan are currently in New Delhi for a week-long conflict mediation workshop, organised by ‘Mediothek Afghanistan’, an organisation that has been involved in training journalists in the embattled country since 2002.
The organisation is also involved in conflict-resolution and peace-building in Kabul, Herat, Kunduz, Mazar-e-Sharif, Jalalabad, Khost and Kandahar. It is also affiliated with a media house in Islamabad.
The workshop has been organised with the support of the German Foreign Office in coordination with Konrad Adenauer Foundation (KAS) and its media partner ‘The Statesman’.
Mohammad Atif, one of the civil rights activists said that peace in Afghanistan depended primarily on regional countries like India, Pakistan and Iran. If there was disorder in the region, Afghanistan would also remain in a state of disarray.
The activists sought to dispel the impression that the Taliban was in control of large parts of the battle-scarred nation. The Taliban, according to them, were confined to certain rural pockets, mostly resorting to guerrilla fighting, they added.
On the ongoing peace talks in Afghanistan, the activists made it clear that the people of Afghanistan would not accept as their rulers anybody who did not have faith in the Afghan Constitution.
“History has shown that nobody wins in Afghanistan by fighting,” they said.
They were of the view that the Afghan Constitution was probably the best in the world and it must be respected by all parties which aspire to rule the country.
Another activist, Sadiq from Herat University, said that Afghanistan’s neighbours should not be worried that the country’s territory would be used against them. Afghanistan believed in good neighbourly relations with all countries in the region.
The activists said Afghanistan was at the forefront of the global war against terrorism.
“We are very hopeful that the peace process will bring stability to Afghanistan,” they added.
They were also of the opinion that America would not withdraw all its troops from Afghanistan without the consent of the Afghan people.