KABUL - Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Dr. Abdullah Abdullah has said the government and the people of Afghanistan want peace and efforts in this regard have been accelerated, but the Taliban are yet to respond positively.
A statement from the CEO office received by Pajhwok Afghan News said that Abdullah addressed conference at the Sciences Po, is a prestigious and influential academic institution in social sciences in France on Tuesday.
Abdullah and his delegation were welcomed by the university’s chancellor, Enrico Letta.
The CEO provided some information about developments and challenges of Afghanistan to the meeting participants including lecturers, students and others, the statement said.
Talking to the meeting, Abdullah said that Afghanistan witnessed unprecedented changes over the last four decades.
“After the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, new changes took place with the beginning of the 21st century, this country faced new movements such as the Taliban and extremist groups such as Alqaeda,” he said.
After the terrorist attack on the US in September 11, 2001, the situation in Afghanistan and the region fundamentally changed, he added.
Afghanistan opened a new page after the fall of Taliban regime and experienced positive changes with approval of the Constitution and international assistance of which France was a part.
Abdullah cited economic development, freedom of expression, education and women rights as examples of the positive changes in Afghanistan.
He added the Afghan people were committed to democracy. Pointing to the peace process in Afghanistan, the CEO said the government and people supported peace and efforts have been accelerated in this regard but the Taliban were yet to respond positively.
He stressed over continued fight against extremism and said that terrorism and extremism were major challenges for Afghanistan and the international community.
Abdullah said that dealing with the mentioned challenges required long term cooperation between Afghanistan and the international community. (Pajhwok)