The National Security Advisor Hamdullah Mohib, who addressed a Town Hall meeting on the sidelines of Munich Security Conference [2019] on Friday, said the Afghan force are fighting for a purpose but added that Taliban has lost the purpose for and what they are fighting for.
Former US Secretary of State John Kerry, Uzbekistan’s Foreign Affair Minister Abdulaziz Kamilov, and Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi were also present at the debate.
“My soldiers do not fight for $300 salary.” Mohib reiterated. “They are fighting for a purpose. They fight to defend our values with the support of our partners and millions of Afghans around the country and Taliban have lost the purpose and what they’re fighting for.”
“My soldiers make sacrifices and media call it causality; they are not causality, those are sacrifices we make on behalf of our country for our freedom, sovereignty and values we stand for,” Mohib added.
He said he pays tribute to thousands of US and NATO forces who lost their lives in Afghanistan alongside the Afghan National Security and Defense Forces (ANDSF).
Mohib condemned the attack in Kashmir, which left at least 40 dead, and said “terrorism is an enemy that is hunting our entire region”.
The NSA said Afghanistan is a different country compared with what it was in 2002 and that the neighbors “should think and fix what went wrong in 2002”.
“Afghanistan is not a country of 2002,” Mohib said. “Afghanistan has come a long way and we are now a different country tangibly and intangibly, as we move to our prosperous future and able to connect the region.”
Mohib assured that peace will come to Afghanistan but added that it requires an inclusive process.
“Peace is coming to Afghanistan. We will bring peace. It is not going to be a simple process of meetings and facilitation. It requires all of us to involve substantively to ensure everybody’s interests are taken care of and is a peace that’s acceptable to Afghan people,” he added.
The remarks come as President Ashraf Ghani last month said that at least 45,000 Afghan forces have lost their lives on duty under the National Unity Government – established in 2014.