KABUL – Afghanistan’s usually bustling capital Kabul slowed to a crawlTuesday amid massive security for a high-stakes peace summit that haspreviously been a target for insurgent attacks.
Police flooded the city and authorities blocked off key roads around thevenue of the so-called “loya jirga” — where some 3,000 tribal elders,religious figures, and politicians from across Afghanistan are gatheringover four days to discuss possible conditions for a peace deal with theTaliban.
Taliban suicide bombers armed with rockets and guns attacked a 2010 peacejirga at the same venue, and in 2011, two rockets were fired into Kabulduring a two-day jirga.
Despite such past attacks, Kabul residents are infuriated with the scale ofthe lockdown, which has already been blamed for at least one death and hasparalysed businesses in what would ordinarily be a busy week before Ramadanbegins.
Local media reported that a newborn baby died when the father, who wastrying to take the infant to a hospital, was blocked by security forces.
Adding to the slowdown, authorities have declared a week-long publicholiday in Kabul.
“Yesterday, I could only take two passengers from one part of the city tothe other. It took me three hours to complete a 15-minute ride,” Nasrullah,a taxi driver who gave only his first name, told AFP.
Shopkeeper Taj Mohammad said poor people had been particularly impacted.
“It is good to provide security for the participants, but that should notcost people’s businesses,” Mohammad said.
Siam Pasarly, an economics expert, estimated the holidays were costing thebusiness community $1 million a day.
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“Afghanistan is a developing country and its economic engine should berunning all day,” he said. “A week-long shutdown is like a poison to theeconomy.”
The loya jirga — literally “grand assembly” in Pashto — is being held asthe US and Taliban are discussing a possible foreign troop withdrawal fromAfghanistan in exchange for a permanent ceasefire and various Talibanpledges.
The jirga is seen as an attempt by the Afghan government to influence thepeace talks which so far have cut out President Ashraf Ghani, whom theTaliban view as a US stooge.
But some prominent Afghans, presidential hopefuls, and government officialsincluding the country’s Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah have boycottedthe assembly.
Ahmad Khan, another taxi driver, bemoaned the meeting as a “waste of time”.
“Holding this jirga is an economic blow for poor labour like us, who comeout in the morning for a morsel of food, and how can we provide food forour families in the next few days,” he told AFP.
“Such jirgas have been held in the past with no positive results, and thegovernment have failed to convince the Taliban to join the talks.” -APP/AFP
