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Criticising Afghanistan's national assembly, former politicians said that without the participation of political figures at such gatherings, the formal recognition that the Taliban wanted, would not be possible, neither at a local nor an international level.
"If those individuals who are influential in different aspects participated, the council will surely find a good way to benefit the nation of Afghanistan and it would be effective for recognition of the Islamic Emirate by the international community," said Sayed Ishaq Gailani, leader of the National Solidarity Movement of Afghanistan, as TOLOnew quoted. The remark came at the time when some prominent Afghan leaders like former President Hamid Karzai, former chairman of the High Council for National Reconciliation Abdullah Abdullah, and former chairman of the Senate Committee Fazal Hadi Muslimyar, were not invited to the gathering. The jirga or grand assembly that opened on Thursday where 3,000 people from across Afghanistan participated, according to Khaama Press. Earlier in the grand assembly, Taliban's supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada stated that Afghans had expelled the "occupying forces" from their country to establish an Islamic system. "...we have Islamic system and this is the responsibility of religious scholars to implement Islamic laws," he was quoted as saying Xinhua. About 3,500 ulema or religious scholars and elders, according to the state-run Bakhtar news agency, have been invited from across the war-torn country to attend the three-day jirga or grand assembly opened on Thursday. Hibatullah attended the grand assembly Friday morning and called upon businessmen to invest in the war-torn country. In his speech aired by local media, Hibatullah called for ensuring justice in society, saying, "No government could survive in the absence of justice and justice is the tool of a government to last." The administration's supreme leader also called for co-existence and said, "We have no ill intentions towards anyone, the neighbouring countries do not feel any harm from us." The three-day gathering will conclude on Saturday. Eleven months after the re-establishment of the Taliban in the country, this is the first nationwide gathering of Islamic clerics in the country, TOLOnews reported. The media has not been permitted to cover the incident, but according to sources, several topics including the education of girls will be discussed during the assembly. Earlier, several clerics and civil rights activists said that the gathering of Islamic scholars should be inclusive. Many politicians and residents had asked the Taliban to invite women as well as representatives from all Afghan ethnic groups for the gathering of Islamic scholars held today. The participants at a gathering on Tuesday called women's inclusion in the Loya Jirga "important" and said that the gathering will be meaningless if women were not included. However, on Wednesday, Taliban-appointed deputy Prime Minister Mawlawi Abdul Salam Hanafi announced that the meeting will convene without the participation of women. (ANI)
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