KABUL (SW): Attaur Rahman Saleem, deputy head of the High Peace Council said on Monday that talks are underway with 8 Taliban groups for peaceful settlement of the conflict.
Top government officials including Mohammad Hanif Atmar, National Security Advisor, Salahuddin Rabani, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Sayed Ahmad Gelani, Head of High Peace Council were summoned by the Wolesi Jirga (lower house) to state their stand on a number of issues but none of them appeared. Only the HPC deputy and deputy foreign minister appeared before the house.
Saleem, the deputy head of the HPC said during the session that they have established close links with 8 Taliban groups, and talks have taken place with them. He did not go into details about the 8 Taliban groups but mentioned Qari Baryal’s group, Peshawar based militants and other Taliban fronts.
“Mullah Rasul’s group has declared that they are ready for the talks. All I can say now is that currently there are 8 Taliban groups in contact with us.” he said. He added that the HCP has not received a green signal from Hezbe-Islami since 20 days now but hopes are alive for a peace deal with this party.
Wahid Muzhda, a political analyst, told Salam Watandar that he has doubts about the remarks made by the HPC’s deputy chief. “I have always said that when the armed opposition did not join the HPC when it was led by the former Jihadi leader Burhanuddin Rabbani, they would never join a process led by Gelani.” he said.
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