Intra-Afghan Talks: Establishing Islamic Gov’t our ‘Agenda’ of Negotiations, Say Taliban
by Mohammad Arif ShevaDOHA, Qatar – The Taliban spokesman Mohammad Naeem Wardak said at a meeting Sunday evening in Doha that establishing an Islamic government in Afghanistan and releasing 7,000 Taliban prisoners are their agenda for the Intra-Afghan negotiations, according to sources.
Contact groups of the Afghan government and Taliban delegation held a meeting on Sunday evening, discussing agenda, guidelines, due dates of meetings and other related issues.
“Negotiations about the government and the release of remaining prisoners are the topics that will be on our agenda,” Naeem said as quoted by local media.
Meanwhile, Afghan chief negotiator Massom Stanekzai said it seemed a positive start, adding “there wasn’t any effort to drive the negotiations towards controversial discussions.”
Addressing the ongoing war in the country, Abdullah Abdullah, chairman of the High Council for National Reconciliation, exclaimed this “historic moment” should “significantly” help reduce the current war in Afghanistan.
“Violence should be reduced significantly with the start of the negotiations so that we reach a humanitarian ceasefire,” he said.
According to sources, both side of the negotiations held a behind closed door meeting after the opening of Intra-Afghan talks on Saturday, where they set the contact groups.
Mohammad Masoom Stanekzai, Nader Nadery, Zarar Ahmad Muqbil, Fawzia Koofi, Enayatullah Baligh, Mohammad Natiqi and Khalid Noor are the seven members of the contact group, representing Afghanistan.
While, the Taliban’s contact group members are Mawlawi Abdul Kabir, Abbas Stanekzai, Noorullah Noori, Shaikh Delawar and Shaikh Qasim.
On Saturday, the opening session of Intra-Afghan talks were held in Qatari capital Doha, where the Afghan and the Taliban delegation team, including international allies, came together to start the long-waited peace negation that will end the roughly two decades of war in Afghanistan.
Author
Muhammad Arif Sheva holds a B.A degree in Journalism from Int'l Peace Leadership College Rizal, Philippines. Sheva works as an editor and content writer for Khaama Press.