Loya Jirga can’t represent the nation: Taliban

KABUL (Pajhwok): The Taliban say the Afghan government’s Loya Jirga before reaching nation-wide peace could not represent the entire nation and has no legal value.

The government has decided to convene a consultative Loya Jirga this Friday for discussion on critical issues related to peace process and the release of 400 controversial Taliban prisoners.

The Taliban in a statement said: “As the Kabul Administration plans to convene a consultative Loya Jirga under the pre-text of releasing 400 Taliban prisoners, such events could not represent the people of Afghanistan and has no legal acceptance.”

Mujahid said Afghanistan desperately needed peace and intra-Afghan understanding. It was important that all parties should understand the need of the hour and refrain from creating hurdlers to available opportunities, he added.

But State Minister for Peace Abdul Salaam Rahimi told reporters here that the Loya Jirga was being convened on the basis of national and international understanding and its purpose was to take the peace process to its logical conclusion.

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