Remarks By H.E President Ashraf Ghani On The Occasion Of The Shanghai Cooperation Organization

Your excellency President Xi Jing Ping, Distinguished Heads of State and Government, Heads of Organizations, Ladies and Gentlemen:

We meet against the background of global uncertainty and disruptive change.
The space of SCO, fortunately, is experiencing one of those rare “open moments” of history, when creative change, pragmatic pursuit of realistic objective, commitment to problem  solving, and systematic expansion of cooperation between and among states creating a new environment of cooperation and trust. As a result, the prospects of emergence of a Euro-Asian continental economy are increasingly becoming certain. The chance to expand the open moment into a century of sustained opportunity for our peoples is real.

Grasping the opportunity, however, requires fashioning a focused regional strategy to expand regional cooperation on connectivity and contain the threat of destructive change posed by Transnational Terrorist Networks (TTNS) and Transnational Criminal Organizations (TCOs). Such a strategy, by necessity, will require a change of perspective on the potential and problems of Afghanistan.

Simply put, the conflict over our territory is whether Afghanistan should function as a platform of regional connectivity and global co-operation or a launching pad for destructive designs and plots of Transnational Criminal Organizations and terrorist networks. Permit me to make the case for how the despite the immense cost to our people by the imposed conflict, our prospects for becoming a platform for cooperation and connectivity are significantly approving.

First, having formed a national consensus on peace, we are firmly committed to a political solution to the conflict with the Taliban. Our unconditional offer of peace is comprehensive and we are pleased that for the first time the Ulema of Afghanistan have provided the total religious justification as to why the conflict should cease. We are pleased that the Taliban have accepted our ceasefire declaration for Eid. This is the first break in 23 years and we ask for your support to utilize the window for moving forward with Intra-Afghan peace talks. - Read More

Remarks by H.E President Ashraf Ghani on the occasion of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization

Office of the President of Afghanistan

وبسایت ریاست جمهوری افغانستان