KABUL - President Ashraf Ghani on Tuesday said the war had been imposed on the Afghans and Afghanistan would not collapse as a country.

“No one should gamble that God forbid Afghanistan will collapse,” Ghani told a United Nations’ function on women and peace in Kabul.

The president said the Afghans had lived for 5, 000 years, protecting their soil and they would give sacrifice for another 5,000 years to protect their country and soil.

Ghani urged regional powers to come to some sort of regional consensus on how to stabilize Afghanistan.  “We are giving sacrifice and there is a need that the region and all of our neighbours with one voice reach a consensus,” he said.

“The governments should learn one fundamental lesson; instability of a government in one region causes instability in the entire region and the world,” he said.

The president said Afghan women had suffered the most in the ongoing war in the country.

He said the Afghans were of the opinion that the war had been imposed on them. “The war is imposed on us and we don’t want peace from a weak position.

“I assure you that whenever we reach a peace agreement, Afghan women’s presence in the government will be made sure,” the president pledged.

Also on Tuesday, the president named the first female Supreme Court justice in Afghanistan’s history. Nominee Anisa Rasouli still needs parliamentary approval.

Ghani has appointed four women as cabinet ministers and also nominated two women as provincial governors

 “Peace will bring stability to Afghanistan only when the second chapter of the Constitution (fundamental rights and duties of citizens) is accepted by all Afghans,” he added.

He said other parts of the Constitution might be amended but Islamic rules and fundamental rights and duties of citizens could not be amended.

The president said the war Afghanistan was fighting benefitted regional countries and foreign fighters from ten countries were currently operating in Kunduz province alone.

He called as essential cooperation from neighbouring and regional countries in improving the situation in Afghanistan.

The president urged all regional powers including India, Azerbaijan and Russia to forge a consensus on how to improve the Afghanistan’s situation. “A stable Afghanistan is not against any individual or country’s interest. (Pajhwok)