The press office of the House of Elders

October 18, 2020

In the plenary session of the Meshrano Jirga on Sunday, led by the speaker of the House, besides of Approval of the view of the National Economic Commission on the draft budget review for the middle of the fiscal year 1399, opinions were presented on current issues of the country.

in the open discussion, some senators have strongly criticized the interference of some neighboring countries, especially Pakistan, in Afghanistan's internal affairs, saying that Pakistan has never been honest in Afghanistan to achieve its goals, but has always sought to escalate civil wars, one clear example of which is the recent war in Helmand province, in which dozens of enemy casualties were transferred to Pakistan. now the UN Security Council should put pressure on Pakistan to not intervene in Afghanistan, and also not to equip and finance terrorist groups and destroy terrorist bases in Pakistan to bring the Doha peace process to result.

Moreover, the senators while criticizing the interventions of Pakistan and Iran, some senators said that Zalmai Khalilzad had recently ignored Pakistan's direct and indirect interventions in Afghanistan and praised Pakistan's policy, and called Iran an obstacle to achieving peace in Afghanistan. Mr. Khalilzad should and must force the USA to refrain from dual policies and to put the necessary pressure on Pakistan for its violations of the peace process.

At the session, some senators welcomed the President's decision to hand over the management of Kabul security to Amrullah Saleh, the first vice president, and while strongly supporting the country's defense and security forces, he said that his experience could be effective in ensuring Kabul security and destroying all terrorist gangs, and all residents of the country Including politicians should work with security agencies to identify these gangs, but others, criticized this decision in the presence of dozens of professional generals and officials from the Interior Ministry, and called the responsibility inappropriate for him, and said retired generals and officers should be called back to the armed forces to end the current security crisis and take control of it.

Members of House once again considered the security situation worrying and reminded of the terrible security situation in Badakhshan, Faryab, Uruzgan, and Helmand, and called for urgent measures in this regard. They also thanked the defense and security forces for resisting the Taliban's offensive in Lashkar Gah and admired the sacrifices of the armed forces, and expressed condolences to the families of the victims of the security forces, including air force pilots.

Summarizing the issues, Fazl Hadi Muslim yar, Speaker of the Meshrano Jirga, said that all the views of the senators presented at today's session will be sent to the government. He added that the current situation has disturbed the people and the president and his deputies, including the security organs, should deal with this situation. Muslim yar reiterated the position of the House on the peace process and said that peace is a necessity and we are in favor of peace with the dignity and welfare of the country and the negotiating team of the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan will act under the wishes of the Afghan people.

The speaker of the Senate called on the government to stop the destruction of the facilities allegedly being carried out by the US military at their bases and added that the upper house would soon issue a statement on the transfer of US military equipment to Pakistan. Finally, Fazl Hadi Muslim yar condemned the bloody incident in Ghor province today, which caused widespread human and financial losses, and called it an inhuman crime.

Thus, in today's session, the views of the National Economy, Finance, Budget and Public Accounts Commission on the draft budget review in the middle of the fiscal year 1399 were presented by the chairman and members of the said commission and approved by the members of the House.

 According to the studies of this commission, since the beginning of the fiscal year 1399, more than twenty-five milliard Afghanis have been increased in the national budget, of which 9 billion is the regular budget and the rest is the development budget. According to the head of the National Economy Commission, during the fiscal year, due to new necessities and needs such as compensating for budget adjustments to fight Covid-19 disease, staff salaries, new government policies, supporting Breshna Company, paying the salaries of martyrs and retirees, the budget structure was changed.

Also, according to the agenda, Presidential Legislative Decree No. (359) on amending some articles of the Civil Aviation Law that had been studied in the commission of the Upper House was presented in the session by the Chairman and members of the Transport and Communications Commission and rejected by the senators.

Thus, the draft statement of the Senate on the peace talks between the representatives of the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and the Taliban was presented by the Chairman and members of the International Affairs Commission. It was supposed that the declaration would be approved after the senators' views were included in the next session.

During the session, Senator Abdul Latif Nahzat Yar presented his visit reported on his trip to Kuwait and Qatar on the 5th October 2020 with the President and his accompanying delegation; He said that during the first visit, the high-ranking delegation went to Kuwait to mourn the death of the Emir of Kuwait and met with the Prime Minister and the new Emir of Kuwait, during which the peace process was discussed and Kuwaiti officials made the promise of commitments. Afterward, the high-level delegation went to Qatar to meet with the negotiating team of the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and heard a report on their performance which detailed information was provided by Mohammad Masoom Stanekzai, the head of the negotiating team, and he assured that this team has unanimously tried to represent its system and people in a better and effective way.

He added that the President and his accompanying delegation had separate talks with Qatar businessmen, Afghan journalists, Afghans living in Qatar, Zalmai Khalilzad, and General Scott Miller, during which issues of interest were discussed.

The Afghan delegation also met with the King and Emir of Qatar to discuss the Afghan peace process, the Qatari officials, while promising to cooperate in securing peace, also expressed support for the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, and they expressed hope that both sides could succeed in the Afghan peace process.