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KABUL: President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani left Kabul for London on Sunday to discuss peace talks with the country’s officials. He will also watch a cricket match between Afghan and England national teams scheduled to be held in Manchester City.
In his three-day visit to London, Ghani is to meet Britain’s senior officials and will discuss bilateral relationship and the country’s role in the Afghan peace process, said presidential palace in a statement.
In addition to the separate meeting with UK’s officials, President Ghani will watch cricket match, be held between Afghanistan and England teams on June 18th, added the statement.
Ghani’s Spokesman, Shah Hossien Murtazawi, said that Ghani’s trip to London is part of his peace efforts. “The aim of the trip is to strengthen bilateral relationships and Britain’s crucial role in the peace process,” he said.
“We showed our national consensus in the Consultative Peace Loya Jirga (Grand Assembly), another issue is regional consensus and beyond regional,” he said. He said that presidential palace hopes these tremendous efforts facilitate ground for a lasting peace in Afghanistan.
This comes as Germany announced that the country would host an intra-Afghan dialogue, where Taliban and government representatives would discuss peace talks.
Meanwhile, China’s ambassador to Kabul, Liu Jinsong in a meeting with the National Security Advisor Hammadullah Mohib, said that Beijing would host a meeting regarding Afghan peace process.
Ghanin’s trip to London comes at a time, while the US special envoy for Afghanistan reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad would start the seventh round of peace talks with the Taliban officials in Doha.
But some influential figures claim that Ghani’s term was over on May 22nd as the government oppositions and electoral candidates criticized the recent changes in the governmental administrations, made by Ghani.
