Afghanistan should set-up a transitional government that includes members of the Taliban once President Hamid Karzai's term ends late next year if it is to escape unending crisis, a grandson of the late former king said on Wednesday.
Once a prince, Mostafa Zaher now heads a department overseeing conservation issues in Karzai's government, and while the family royal family lacks a political powerbase it is often looked on as a symbol of national unity. Like many Afghans, Zaher despairs that there is no end in sight to the Taliban insurgency, and conflict that has gripped the country since the late 1970s.
"We are in the middle of a crisis at this very second, and the situation is getting worse," the balding former prince told journalists, adding that decisiveness and vision were needed. Zaher, 44, has spent three decades living in exile in the West, and has degrees in political science and economics from Canada.
His grandfather, the late King Mohammed Zahir Shah, returned to his homeland in 2002, months after US-backed forces drove the Taliban from power. After returning to Afghanistan, Shah renounced his throne, and in return was accorded the honorary title of "father of the nation". He died last year.
Despite the presence of more than 55,000 foreign troops, attacks by the Taliban have dramatically jumped since 2006 in Afghanistan, prompting some Western politicians to warn recently that the country may slide back into anarchy. Less than two weeks ago, Taliban gunmen tried to assassinate Karzai while he attended a military parade near the presidential palace in Kabul.
Like the royal family, Karzai is a Pashtun. But he has struggled to garner support among fellow Pashtuns. Most of the Taliban are Pashtuns too, and complaints are often voiced that the Pashtuns are under-represented in Karzai's government.
Zaher says the transitional administration he envisages would include members of the current government, along with members of the Taliban and other insurgent groups fighting US, Nato and government forces.
"We had enough of the war and fratricide. The Taliban are also the sons of this country," said Zaher, who fears Afghanistan could disintegrate unless the crisis ends. "You do not make peace with your friends. You make peace with those who are against you. This is an intra-Afghan plan and we hope to bring on board all of dissatisfied people," he said.
The transitional government would summon a Loya Jirga, Afghanistan's traditional grand council of tribal leaders and elders, to determine how to change the system of government from a strong presidential system to one that revolved round parliament, Zaher said. He denies harbouring political ambitions, but did not rule out the possibility of taking some role if he had people's backing.
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