A day after the grand assembly of almost 3,200 delegates from around the country issued a resolution after four days of consultations, Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah said he does not see anything new in the document as peace has always been the main demand of the people of Afghanistan.

Overall, the issues which were expressed in the Loya Jirga resolution were not new. Therefore, we had reasons for not attending the Jirga, Abdullah said in an interview with Anadolu News Agency on May 3.

The grand council, called the Grand Consultative Jirga for Peace, was suggested by President Ghani in February in order to determine a framework for peace talks with the Taliban.

In their 23-article resolution, the Peace Jirga delegates called for an immediate ceasefire between the Afghan government and the Taliban.

President Ghani, who addressed the Jirga’s closing ceremony on Friday, May 3, said he is ready for a ceasefire with the Taliban and that the resolution will change into an action plan for the Afghan government.

However, Abdullah Abdullah peace is the main demand of the Afghan people and that they do not want to go back to the Taliban era.

They want their achievements to be preserved, Abdullah said. I did not see anything new in the resolution.

Abdullah said that such a gathering should have been held when there was an agreement on peace in order to decide on the post-peace Afghanistan.

We are happy that any security incident did not happen during the Jirga as the Afghan security forces implemented strong measures, he added.

Taliban has rejected the Peace Jirga’s call for a ceasefire as they called the grand council an unsuccessful attempt.