The much-awaited consultative Loya Jirga, a traditional grand assembly of elders and chieftains, was inaugurated in Kabul on Monday amid tight security.

More than 3,000 people have been invited to the rare Loya Jirga, which is being billed as the largest in modern Afghan history, in a bid to set possible conditions under which they might accept a peace settlement.

The assembly will discuss the measures on how to initiate dialogue with the Taliban outfit to find negotiated end to Afghanistan's lingering crisis, head of the jirga, Mohammad Omar Daudzai said in his speech.

"We want to specify the main lines for the negotiations with the Taliban," Afghanistan's President Ashraf Ghani said at the start of the summit, adding that "We want clear advice from all of you." 

Ghani's government hopes the high-stakes meeting will set out Kabul's conditions for any deal, including the continuation of the constitution and the protection of women's rights, the media, and free speech.

Ghani had invited the Taliban but the insurgents, having waged an unrelenting guerrilla war since 2001, refused.

Much of Kabul was locked down Monday, with a week-long public holiday declared for the duration of the four-day event.

Streets across the capital were closed and hilly overlooks blocked. In the past, the Taliban have blasted rockets at a tent hosting a Loya Jirga.

In a statement, the Taliban vowed that any decisions or resolutions made at a Loya Jirga are "never acceptable to the real and devout sons of this homeland."

The most recent Loya Jirga was held in 2013, when Afghan officials endorsed a security agreement that allowed U.S. troops to stay in Afghanistan beyond their planned withdrawal in 2014.

(With inputs from Xinhua, AFP)

(Top image: Afghan men attend a consultative grand assembly, known as Loya Jirga, in Kabul, Afghanistan, April 29, 2019. /Reuters Photo)