Afghan President challenges Reconciliation Council's authority to make political decisions

Kabul [Afghanistan], November 29 (ANI/Sputnik): Decisions on constitutional amendments and adoption of a republican governance model is not a remit of the Afghan High Council for National Reconciliation, President Ashraf Ghani said on Sunday at a meeting with his predecessor, Hamid Karzai, and prominent Afghan intellectual Abdul Rab Rasul Sayyaf, Sputnik has learned from a source at the meeting.
The statement came amid reports that negotiators of the Afghan government and the Taliban in Doha had agreed on the modalities of the peace process in a 21-article document. Representatives of the High Council for Reconciliation also partake in the talks.
Ghani said that he would "never adhere to the principles of republicanism" and never bargain on "the first and second articles of the constitution and on the safety of the security and defense forces," the source quoted the president as saying.
The Afghan leader also stressed, as quoted by the source, that it would be the State of Afghanistan to be mentioned in the Doha document as a party to the talks, whereas the High Council has no authority to make decisions that belong to the people of Afghanistan under the constitution.
Peace talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban have been underway in the Qatari capital of Doha since September 12. The key topics on the agenda include a permanent ceasefire, Afghanistan's future political system and a range of social issues. The Taliban movement wants the country to adopt the Islamic system of governance. The intra-Afghan reconciliation ultimately pursues a withdrawal of foreign troops from the country. (ANI/Sputnik)