The Afghan government will hold a conference of national dialogue next week to discuss a partnership pact with the United States and proposed peace talks with the Taliban, officials said Saturday. The traditional meeting of community leaders, known as "Loya Jirga", will start November 16 and will go on for five days, a spokeswoman for the conference said.
"A total of 2,030 representatives from all provinces are set to participate in the Jirga and will vote over the strategic partnership with the United States and the peace talks with the Taliban," said Safia Siddiqia during a press conference. Politicians, tribal elders, provincial officials, lawmakers and civil society, will attend the conference.
High on the agenda are negotiations between the United States and Afghanistan about a strategic partnership agreement to be finalised ahead of the planned withdraw of Nato forces in 2014. "The president of Afghanistan cannot decide by himself on these issues," she told reporters. "The government of Afghanistan is responsible for talks but the decision should be come from the people of Afghanistan."
President Hamid Karzai's office on Saturday said in a statement: "Although the talks on strategic partnership with the US are not finalised, consulting the country's representatives is an important step and therefore the traditional Jirga will take place... on the date already assigned."
A US Embassy spokesman said any agreement between the two countries would not be signed before the Bonn Conference next month in Germany when 90 countries will meet to discuss the future of Afghanistan. Security concerns will overshadow the conference in Kabul, where Taliban insurgents have carried out a string of attacks in recent months. The United Nations said in September that violence in Afghanistan was at its highest level since US-led forces toppled the Taliban in 2001.
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