Kabul: At the Open Governance Week commemoration program, Sarwar Danesh, the second vice-president, on Thursday said that reforms in government institutions, development and progress in open governance are likely to be affected by the peace talks.
However, the second VP said that the disruption in reform process in government institutions should not occur at any cost. Noting that reforms play a key role in the development of governance, Danesh said, “There is a risk that institutionalization and institutional reform will be hampered by the peace talks and stalled or slowed down. Stopping reforms in government institutions means refusing to provide services to the people and ultimately leading to continued poverty and backwardness.”
Another threat to the reforms are the challenges which “enemies” of the Afghan people habor for the political system in Afghanistan, said Danesh, as apart from the republic and a democratic system based on the constitution and the will of the people, any other system is contrary to economic progress and development, and the other is that the creation of new institutions for the government and the political system is time consuming.
The second vice-president said, “Just as millions across Afghanistan have spoken out in defense of the regime and the republic, the government must be aware of this danger. It takes tens of years, billions of dollars of money and a lot of energy until alternative institutions reach the stage of maturity to serve the people, and each interruption wastes the achievements of the last 20 years and pushes people back to zero.”
Danesh said that the Afghan government strongly supported peace talks and the achievement of a just and lasting peace; but in no way will it allow the country to be torn apart again and to jeopardize the republic and the constitution and the achievements of the last 20 years.
Emphasizing that the standards of governance must be re-applied in the peace process as well, the second vice-president said that peace is in fact a national program and for the people and not for specific individuals and groups.
