Govt releases 250-member list to attend Doha meeting

KABUL (Pajhwok): The government on Tuesday announced a list of 250 people, including 52 women, who would participate in the upcoming intra-Afghan dialogue in Doha, the capital of Qatar, a statement said.

The Doha meeting is expected to take place from April 19 to 21 between individuals in the list and Taliban representatives.

The list has been prepared in coordination with political parties, independent personalities, political figures and other institutions, a statement from the Presidential Palace said.

Representatives of political parties, jihadi leaders, family members of victims of the war, the High Peace Council representatives, members of the parliament, civil society, youth, journalists, government officials, tribal elders and influential personalities are part of the list, the statement said.

The list includes head of Afghanistan Council head Qeyamuddi Kashaf.

Members of Jamiat-i-Islami party Mohammad Younus Qanoni, Atta Mohammad Noor and Ismail Khan, head of Hizb-i-Paiwand Milli party Mansoor Naderi, members of Hizb-i-Islami Afghanistan (HIA) party Ghairat Baheer, Jumma Khan Hamdard and Hamayon Jareer and head of a splinter HIA faction Abdul Hadi Arghandiwal are also in the list.

Other key figures on the list include Najibullah Mujadadi, son of Sibghatullah Mujadadi, Hazrat Omar Zakhilwal, Mullah Abdul Salam Zaif, Mohammad Hanif Atmar, Hekmat Khalil Karzai, Mohammad Mohaqiq, Haji Din Mohammad, Sayed Hamid Gilani, Zalmai Rassoul, Dr. Rangin Dadfar Spanta, Bator Dostum, Sima Samar and Habiba Surabi.

Nine media representatives including Danish Karokhel from Pajhwok Afghan News, Lotfullah Najafizada from Tolo TV, Abdullah Khinjani from 1TV, Sharif Hassanyar from Aryana TV, Najiba Ayubi from Killid Group, Haji Fazal Karim from Shamshad TV, Seddiqullah Tawhidi, head Journalists Protection Committee, two journalists Mariam Sama and Bilal Sarwari are also in the list.

The list also includes 17 Islamic scholars, 25 parliament members and 11 ministers.

However, former president Hamid Karzai, who had a key role in the last meeting between the Taliban and Afghan politicians in Moscow, is not in the list.

A source close to Karzai said 70 people in the list had been introduced by the former president, but he personally would not participate in the meeting.

The Taliban said participants of Doha meeting would express their views in personal capacity and that the meeting was not part of negotiations.

About participants of the meeting, the Taliban said. “No one represents the Kabul administration in this conference; if there are names who have links with Kabul administration, he or she would express views in personal capacity.”

The first meeting of the kind was held in Moscow on February 5, but the Afghan government was not part of that.

The Doha meeting follows five rounds of talks between the Taliban and US representatives in Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE on reaching a peace agreement in Afghanistan.

Taliban and US representatives have agreed over the withdrawal of foreign forces from Afghanistan and guaranteeing that Afghanistan would not pose a threat to the world but the details of the agreement are yet to be shared with the media.

mds/ma

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