Ekaterina Zaharieva Insists on Active Involvement of Women in Afghan Peace Process
30 July 2020 News
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Ekaterina Zaharieva stated Bulgaria’s support for the efforts to ensure peace in Afghanistan and insisted on the active involvement of women in intra-Afghan political negotiations. She spoke at a meeting with US Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad.
Ambassador Khalilzad visited Sofia as part of his visit to several European and Asian capitals before the anticipated start of the intra-Afghan talks in Qatar between the Taliban and the Afghan government.
“Political dialogue is the most urgent task. The two parties should sit around the negotiating table and talk. As a European and a woman I find it very important that women should also participate in this dialogue. They account for one-half of the population of Afghanistan and should have a say on what their country should be like,” Ekaterina Zaharieva said. She went on to add that women and children should enjoy more rights under the country’s new constitution. In this context Ambassador Khalilzad invited Ekaterina Zaharieva to join the Foreign Ministers of Norway and Indonesia for an event supporting Afghan women, which is slated to run parallel with the negotiations.
Zalmay Khalilzad briefed the Bulgarian Foreign Minister on the Afghan peace process after the agreement between the United States and representatives of the Taliban, which was signed in Doha on 29 February 2020. Its goal is to ensure that the intra-Afghan talks put an end to armed conflict in Afghanistan and to terrorism, and lead to the pullout of the international forces from Afghanistan within 14 months by May 2021.
“This is a great mission. I wish you success and can assure you that we will support you in every way possible,” the Foreign Minister told the US Special Representative for Afghanistan.
Bulgaria provides humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan as part of its official development assistance program and has contributed 160 people to NATO’s Resolute Support mission in Afghanistan. Bulgaria’s total contribution to NATO’s Afghan National Army Trust Fund (ANATF), which was launched in 2007, amounts to USD 1.2 million.
“Our representatives enjoy the trust of the Afghan side and we are ready to continue our presence. There should be coordination between allies and the situation needs to be assessed before we decide to move on to the various phases of the agreement,” Ekaterina Zaharieva said.
Ambassador Khalilzad thanked Bulgaria for its support and noted the importance of US partnership with Bulgaria.