Afghan president rejects military solution to crisis, calls for political settlement

2021-05-13 09:36:15 GMT2021-05-13 17:36:15(Beijing Time) Xinhua English

KABUL, May 13 (Xinhua) -- Afghanistan's President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani said Thursday that there is no military solution to the lingering crisis in his country, calling upon the Taliban leadership to give up fighting and support the peace process to find a political settlement.

"The people of Afghanistan want peace, we all want peace. Let's tolerate each other, let's stop fighting and bombing, let's us join our hands and heal our soil's wounds and jointly rebuild our homeland," the president said in his speech to the nation after offering Eid al-Fitr prayer here in the Presidential Palace.

Thursday is the first day of Eid al-Fitr, one of the largest religious festivals marking the end of Muslims fasting month Ramadan.

International efforts are underway to find a negotiated solution to Afghanistan's crisis. The intra-Afghan dialogue faced deadlock in Doha a couple of months ago, and the proposed peace conference in Turkey has been postponed since March due to Taliban reluctance to attend it.

The United Nations-led peace conference is expected to be held in late May or early June if the Taliban outfit agrees to attend.

Meanwhile, the withdrawal of the U.S.-led foreign forces from Afghanistan began on May 1 and would be completed by Sept. 11, the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks on New York and Washington.

The Taliban group has announced a three-day Eid al-Fitr ceasefire from Thursday to Saturday night Enditem

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