National Reconciliation

National Reconciliation is the term used for establishment of so-called 'national unity' in countries beset with political problems. In Afghanistan the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan government under Babrak Karmal issued a ten-point reconciliation program in 1985 upon the advice of Soviet leadership, called the National Reconciliation Policy or NRP. Creation Karmal appointed a six-member group of people who were not political party members to develop the National Reconciliation Policy. Mohammad Najibullah later intensified and broadened the proposals in 1987 to stop the Afghan civil war which had continued since 1978 after the Saur Revolution. At the National Reconciliation meeting they came to the conclusion that the Soviet Armed Forces in Afghanistan should withdraw. In addition to ending the armed conflict with the Mujahideen and the integration of the Mujahideen into a multi-party political process and the withdrawal of Soviet Union security forces, the development of a new constitution was proposed as a component of the National Reconciliation Policy. In 1985 Mikhail Gorbachev was selected Secretary General of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Gorbachev pushed new president Mohammad Najibullah to come with a peace proposal in the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan. On 15 January 1987, Najibullah requested a six-month ceasefire between Mujahideen and government forces, and made other proposals as part of the National Reconciliation Policy. The resistance replied to these proposals at a general meeting in Ghur Province in July 1987. The meeting was called together by Mujahideen resistance leader Ismail Khan in Herat Province. Najibullah's proposal was rejected and the six-month ceasefire agreement ended.