Karzai Calls for National Dialogue At Historic Bonn Conference Hall
Twenty-three years after the historic Bonn Conference, the German city hosted a closed-door meeting on Afghanistan on Wednesday.
Twenty-three years after the historic Bonn Conference, the German city hosted a closed-door meeting on Afghanistan on Wednesday.
Informed sources told Afghanistan International that the meeting was attended by former Afghan President Hamid Karzai and some political figures.
In the historic Bonn Conference Hall in the Petersburg Hotel in 2001, the basis for the formation of a new government, an emergency Loya Jirga, the holding of presidential elections, the drafting of the constitution, the formation of a parliament, and the participation of women and ethnic groups in the structure of the system were laid.
A source told Afghanistan International that the meeting, titled "Afghanistan at the Crossroads: 23 Years After the Bonn Conference", was organised by the Academy of International Affairs of North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany.
According to the source, in addition to Hamid Karzai, former Afghan foreign ministers Zalmai Rassoul and Rangin Dadfar Spanta; former Afghan ambassador to Germany Hamid Sidig and former Afghan consul general in Germany Sayed Lutfullah Sadat were present at the meeting.
The mayor of Bonn and a number of Afghans living in Germany also participated in the meeting.
In his speech, former President Karzai called the absence of representatives of all political groups at the Bonn conference a "historic mistake" that he said has hindered the realisation of the aspirations of the Afghan people.
Hamid Karzai is referring to the absence of the Taliban at the Bonn conference. He is one of those politicians who believe that if the Taliban had attended the meeting, the 20-year war and the group's resurgence would probably have been prevented.
Karzai went on to emphasise the historical and good relations between Afghanistan and Germany and said that Germany can once again host intra-Afghan talks.
He also reiterated the importance of a national dialogue among Afghans and said that the Afghan people should take the initiative for dialogue and reconciliation.
President Karzai said that during his presidency, he called the Taliban brothers, and now he considers the opponents of the Taliban brothers.
