The tripartite forum in Jakarta in mid-March could be a legal umbrella for the Muslim clerics to push all government and non-government factions involved in conflict in Afghanistan towards peace.
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SUHARTONO
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Vice President Jusuf Kalla (third right), accompanied by Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi (left) ahead of the second Kabul Peace Conference at Haram Sharai on Wednesday (28/2).
KABUL, KOMPAS – Vice President Jusuf Kalla said the tripartite forum of an ulema committee formed of three states (Afghanistan, Pakistani and Indonesian) in Jakarta in mid-March could be a legal umbrella for the Muslim clerics to push all government and non-government factions involved in conflict in Afghanistan towards peace.
“I believe [the Tripartite Forum] in Jakarta would be a legal umbrella for the Afghan clerics and government to push for peace and reconciliation,” Kalla told reporters at Kabul’s Haram Sharai Palace on Thursday morning (1/3), at the end of his three-day working visit to Afghanistan.
Kalla said that the forum’s list of attendees would be composed in such a way to include clerics from the Mujahidin, the Taliban and other groups. Following the meeting, Kalla said, Indonesia would invite international Muslim clerics in a future event in Jakarta. This would be discussed further after the Tripartite Forum in March.
After Afghan President Ashraf Ghani delivered his proposal publicly at the second Kabul Peace Conference, including the recognition of the Taliban as a political party and the Taliban’s recognition of the Afghan constitution and government in return, it is hoped that the Taliban and other groups would accept the offer.
The Taliban had yet to provide any official response to Ghani’s offer by Thursday. However, in response to an open letter in The New Yorker magazine earlier this week that urged the Taliban to negotiate with the Afghan government, written by a leading expert on Afghan politics, Barnett Rubin, a Taliban spokesman said, “Our country was colonized, which led to the implementation of an American-style government in Afghanistan.”
“Your view that we need to negotiate with them and accept their legitimacy is the same formula adopted by the US to win wars,” the statement continued, adding that the Kabul peace process was aimed at making the Taliban “surrender”.
Kompas/SUHARTONO
Vice President Jusuf Kalla (center), accompanied by Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi (right), welcomes Tadamichi Yamamoto (left), the Secretary-General\'s Special Representative for Afghanistan and Head of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) ahead of the second Kabul Peace Conference at Haram Sharai on Wednesday (28/2).
Kalla said that President Ghani’s offer was in line with what he had discussed in prior meetings with President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo in Kabul and in Jakarta. In early February, Afghan High Peace Council chairman Kharim Kalili met with Kalla at the vice presidential palace in Jakarta.
National Police deputy chief Comr. Gen. Syafruddin, a member of Indonesia’s delegation to Kabul, said that the police had worked with the Afghan government over the last three years, including on building the capacity of around 300 Afghan police personnel. “In the future, we will provide anti-terror and terrorism eradication trainings. We hope that our contribution can bring a bigger benefit in the process of maintaining security in Afghanistan,” he said.
Opening the way
President Joko Widodo’s Special Envoy to the Middle East, Alwi Shihab, said that the Tripartite Forum in Jakarta could open the way for clerics representing the conflicting factions in Afghanistan to start peace talks between the government and non-governmental groups. “This is the step that will open the way for further talks,” Alwi said.
Kalla and his entourage were scheduled to leave Kabul for Jakarta on Thursday. Before his departure, Kalla reportedly held meetings with several other groups in Afghanistan to enhance peace and reconciliation efforts. However, the results of the meeting were not to be published. On Wednesday evening, Kalla met with Afghan Chief Executive and senior politician Abdullah Abdullah before having dinner with President Ghani.
