As the efforts for peace accelerate by government and the international community in recent months, the Wolesi Jirga, Lower House of Parliament, Speaker Abdul Rauf Ibrahimi said effective steps have not been made by Afghanistan’s partners and other relevant local and international organizations to ensure peace in the war-ravaged country.

“It was the responsibility of the (UN) Security Council to have assessed the NATO and US mission in Afghanistan to find the reasons which have failed them (in Afghanistan),” Ibrahimi told lawmakers.

Some lawmakers meanwhile welcomed the UN Security Council visit to Kabul, saying that it as a good opportunity for Afghanistan.

“The demand of the people of Afghanistan for the United Nations Security Council is to remove any activity which would make Afghanistan the second Syria,” Jafar Mahdawi, an MP, said.

Peace and stability in Afghanistan were part of the agenda of the United Nations Security Council meetings with Afghan leaders. Legislators said most of Afghanistan’s problems have internal roots, and that the National Unity Government leaders must review the domestic problems before doing anything else.

“There will be no fruitful result even if the UN Security Council members visit a hundred times, because Afghanistan’s problems are domestic,” said Saleh Mohammad Saljoqi, an MP.

The UN Security Council arrived Kabul this week on Saturday. The first Council visit to Afghanistan since 2010, the visit was an opportunity to reiterate the Security Council’s support for the Government and people of Afghanistan and their efforts to restore peace, stability and progress to the country, UNAMA said in a statement Monday.

Head of the Security Council delegation, Ambassador Kairat Umarov, the Permanent Representative of Kazakhstan to the UN, was accompanied on this trip by representatives of the United States, Plurinational State of Bolivia, Côte d’Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Kuwait, Kingdom of the Netherlands, Peru, Poland, Sweden, France, Russian Federation, the United Kingdom and China.

During the visit to Kabul, the delegation held meetings with the President of Afghanistan, Ashraf Ghani, Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah, and other senior Afghan officials, including the chairman of the High Peace Council Mohammad Khalili, and Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Interior, Finance, Agriculture, Economy, Trade and Commerce, among others. They also met with members of parliament, women’s NGOs, civil society organizations, representatives of political parties and the electoral management bodies, as well as the leadership of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) and NATO’s Resolute Support Mission.

Discussions focused on the political, security, socio-economic and human rights situation in the country.

The visit came ahead of the Kabul Process meeting, scheduled for February 2018, where the Government is expected to present its plans for a more structured peace and security process, coordinated with the wider region.

All parties underlined the importance of an inclusive Afghan-led and -owned peace process for long-term stability and prosperity in Afghanistan and Council members renewed their commitment to support efforts that aim at bringing peace and reconciliation.