Wolesi Jirga decides to summon govt negotiating team

KABUL (Pajhwok): Some Wolesi Jirga members on Wednesday said the government’s negotiating team for intra-Afghan talks should be summoned to the lower house to provide information about their three-month efforts.

After three months of negotiations, the government and Taliban’s negotiating teams agreed on a three-week break.

The government’s negotiating team arrived from Doha to Kabul on Tuesday night.

Wolesi Jirga speaker, Mir Rahman Rahmani, talking to today’s session, said that the government’s negotiating team’s chief should be summoned to the house next week to explain his team’s three months efforts.

Zalmai Noori, a lawmaker, also said that the negotiating team should be summoned to brief lawmakers about progress in the peace talks.

Another Wolesi Jirga member, Erfanullah Erfan, said that the Afghan public had been hoping peace negotiations would produce a positive result, but it did not happen unfortunately.

Niamatullah Karyab, another member said, “Unfortunately, the Afghans’ hopes for peace and ceasefire ended in smoke.”

He said that the cause of Afghans’ dissatisfaction with negotiations resulted from deadlocks in the talks.

Karyab said they supported the president’s statement about shifting next phases of negotiations to Afghanistan.

Malali Eshaqzai, another lawmaker, also said that future peace talks should be held in Afghanistan.

Mds/ma