No single agenda for peace irks civil society

KABUL activists to push for intra-Afghan peace dialogue.

The Peace House held a meeting in which representatives of civil society from all 34 provinces were present in Kabul today (Wednesday) to discuss the stalled peace talks between the US and Taliban insurgents.

US Representative for Afghan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad held nine rounds of peace negotiations with Taliban representatives as many months, however US President Donald Trump called off the peace talks with Taliban after a car bombing in Kabul killed at least 10 people, including an American soldier.

But Khalilzad has recently resumed his peace efforts amid reports that Afghan government officials will attend direct talks with the Taliban in Chinese capital Beijing city in near future.

Tariq Faiz, a member of the Peace House, read out a statement regarding the peace process at today’s meeting.

The statement said peace was a fundamental need of Afghanistan people because peace could guarantee the country’s economic development, education.

It added, “People have trust in peace, but the current situation is complex and the peace talks are in a complicated and ambiguous state.”

There had been no coordination about peace efforts between the Afghan government, the US and Taliban representatives, the statement said.

It said civil society groups were concerned about the lack of a single agenda for peace process and interferences in the Afghan peace process of neighboring and far away nations.

The Khan-i-Sulh Afghanistan ending their gathering suggested the creation of a community with representatives from both houses of the parliament, civil society, political parties, youths and women for starting intra-Afghan dialogue under observation of the international community.

pk/ma