Dubai meeting on Afghan reconciliation begins

KABUL): An Afghan-led two-day gathering, aimed at paving the ground for substantive negotiations between armed opposition groups and the Kabul government, began on Wednesday in Dubai, a potential venue for such meetings, politicians said.

The Pugwash meeting involves representatives from the government, the Taliban (NCA) spokesman.

Fazli Rahman Orya told Pajhwok Afghan News the meeting offered a new vision for peace and security in the country, expecting flexibility in Taliban’s conditions at Dubai talks.

He said the meeting was an initiative of the Dubai-based international organisation, Pugwash, with issues related to peace in Afghanistan and possible future compromise on the agenda. 

The politician said the Afghans wanted reconciliation to bring about lasting peace, while preserving their country’s unity.

A source privy to the meeting told Pajhwok over the telephone from Dubai that the negotiations had begun. The participants conferred on the country’s security situation and how to find a home-grown solution to the 11-year-old conflict, he added.

He recalled Pugwash had organissed a similar gathering in September last year, but a limited number of representatives were in attendance.

Afghan High Peace Council members and a number of Afghan politicians and analysts had been invited to the track-two event, he added.

Prominent among the participants are Qazi Amin Waqad, Maulvi ambassador to Kabul, and former Pakistani intelligence officer Assad Durrani.

ma/mud

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