Mili Mehwar: The Secure Fortress of National Values and Interests

Motive and Need: For several decades, Afghanistan has been trapped in a vicious cycle of tragedy, crisis, war, ignorance, corruption, disunity, and captivity. To escape this situation, there was neither a glimmer of hope nor any foundation or national force for salvation. Although most of our colleagues were engaged in cultural and civil activities, the continuous turmoil and despair about the future made us realize that the main problem in Afghanistan is political, and that a political solution and a political force are needed to resolve this problem. Unfortunately, political power had fallen into the hands of groups that, instead of prioritizing national interests, favored personal, organizational, and ethnic interests. We observed that the political fate of Afghanistan was being held hostage by corrupt individuals, and we therefore concluded that as long as clean and upright individuals do not enter the political arena, our destiny will remain in their hands. And as long as powerful national institutions are not created, our country will continue to be embroiled in crises.

We came to the understanding that while it is true that in developed countries, politics is the responsibility of professional politicians, in Afghanistan, where our political, economic, social, and even personal lives, as well as our security, dignity, and independence, are directly linked to politics, politics can be considered a human, national, Islamic, and even a familial duty.
It became difficult for us to bear this situation, where our power and authority, both inside and outside the country, were in the hands of malicious and corrupt elements. For this reason, a number of like-minded friends decided to enter the political arena and fill the void of a powerful national-political force and movement that is committed to the national interests, independence, pride, and prosperity of Afghanistan.

Given the need for a national and nationwide political party in Afghanistan, the Afghan National Movement decided to organize its activities in the form of a political party. For this purpose, we held our first congress on September 2, 2016 (11 Sunbula 1395) and officially announced the establishment of a political party under the name "Mili Mehwar."

Characteristics of the Mili Mehwar: The Mili Mehwar may have similar goals to those mentioned in the constitutions of some other parties, but the unique characteristics of this party are as follows:

• While most political parties in Afghanistan were formed around power or wealth, we decided to found the Mili Mehwar on the basis of shared ideas, principles, and values.
• In a situation where many parties focused on short-term, day-to-day, reactive, and privilege-based struggles, our effort was to focus on and invest in a long-term, fundamental, and strategic struggle.
• While most parties revolved around a single key personality, the Mili Mehwar strived to create a party system under collective leadership, so that its existence would not be dependent on a specific person, but rather be based on strong principles, values, and cadre capacity. For this reason, no famous, powerful, or wealthy figure was present in the leadership of the Mili Mehwar, although some party members later took on important responsibilities in the government due to their merits.
• At a time when the market for ethnic, regional, and religious slogans was heated in the country, the Mili Mehwar tried to unite people based on a national spirit, national thought, and national values. Fortunately, we succeeded in equipping party members with a national mindset and eliminating any kind of thought based on division and discord.
• While most parties only strove for a share in power and saw the realization of their goals only in reaching power, the Mili Mehwar understood that real power was in the hands of foreigners. Instead of participating in power, we tried to be the voice of the people and a force for oversight and pressure, and to work on fundamental solutions to exit the crisis.

Branches: Currently, the Mili Mehwar has branches in various provinces of the country, and representatives from all segments of society are present in it, but most of its members are young people and academic and specialized cadres. It is worth noting that women's participation is also very extensive in the Mili Mehwar, and there are special sections for them.

The Mili Mehwar also has many members abroad and has organized structures in Britain, Germany, the United States, and Canada. Given the atmosphere of repression and tyranny inside the country, we do not want to expose our members to unnecessary problems and threats. Instead, we strive to largely delegate the responsibility of raising the voice of the people to the Mili Mehwar members abroad.

Khushal Baba's Ideological Movement: For the purpose of public awareness, awakening, and raising the level of knowledge, especially among young people, the Khushal Baba's Ideological Movement began its academic, research, and educational programs in Kabul on July 11, 2013 (20 Saratan 1392) and then expanded to other provinces. In this regard, hundreds of meetings, seminars, conferences, and workshops were held; national and international days were commemorated, and this movement, under the umbrella of the Mili Mehwar, became an important academic, cultural, and educational movement.

Our wish is that Afghans can determine their own political destiny, live in peace and dignity, not be dependent on foreigners, not flee their country, and that every individual in this country, regardless of gender, ethnicity, language, region, class, or religion, feels a sense of complete ownership, enjoys all fundamental human rights, and lives together in a spirit of brotherhood, tolerance, and national unity.

Since no powerful national alternative to the Taliban has yet been formed, our effort in the short term will be to encourage the Taliban, through civil resistance and peaceful struggle, to make reforms that would allow the country to emerge from the current humanitarian crisis and for Afghans to at least gain a breathing space in their own country. However, to realize our aspirations and create an ideal Afghanistan, we must fulfill our long-term national responsibilities. From our perspective, it is necessary to work seriously and in parallel on four fronts:

1. In the long term, Afghanistan needs several powerful national parties. In this regard, work must be done systematically, methodically, and continuously. Afghans who believe in political struggle instead of war must unite around a few axes based on common ideological grounds.
2. As an immediate and short-term approach, national, democratic, and peace-loving forces must coordinate with each other based on clear goals, principles, and mechanisms and form a grand coalition.
3. To achieve national understanding, unity, political stability, and lasting peace, a national dialogue and reconciliation process is needed. The people of Afghanistan, who have been severely harmed by intelligence games, military and ideological invasions, civil wars, and political crises, need a comprehensive and inclusive dialogue process that first begins among national forces, then expands to all segments of society, and finally brings the hostile groups to the negotiating table as well.
4. The fourth front, which is very important from our perspective but has unfortunately been neglected, is the revival of the culture of patriotism, national commitment, responsibility, honesty, tolerance, and respect. Unfortunately, over the past five decades, a culture of irresponsibility, indifference, rhetoric and complaint, opportunism, blame-casting, character assassination, mistrust, and lack of commitment has become prevalent and has prevented the formation of powerful national movements. In addition to the three aforementioned fronts, we must also fight in parallel with a systematic strategy to reform and change this destructive culture, because if we do not, even with the best plans and programs, their implementation will be very difficult.