Jamiat not invited to Moscow summit: Ahmadzai

KABUL (Pajhwok): The Moscow conference on Afghan peace process is expected to be attended by 16 Afghan officials, representatives of a number of political parties and a 10-member Taliban delegation, but Jamiat-i-Islami Afghanistan is not invited to the summit.

Two weeks back, the US proposed a participatory government in Afghanistan which includes future political roadmap, guidelines and transitional government as well as a permanent ceasefire.

Based on the proposal, the Taliban are also given part in the new government and a high level meeting participated by influential countries, Afghan officials, politicians and Taliban under the supervision of the UN is also considered.

One such meeting about the Afghan peace will take place in Russia on March 18 and another in Turkey in April.

Taliban’s spokesman, Dr. Mohammad Naeem also said that a 10-member delegation of the group led by Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar would also attend the Moscow meeting.

An official of the State Ministry in Peace Affairs, who wished to go unnamed, told Pajhwok Afghan News that a 16-member delegation headed by Dr. Abdullah Abdullah would attend the Moscow conference.

The official said that the delegation included Wolesi Jirga speaker Mir Rahman Rahmani, first deputy chairman of High Council of National Reconciliation (HCNR), Babar Farahmand, state minister in peace affairs, Sayed Saadat Mansoor Naderi, first deputy chairman of Meshrano Jirga or upper house, Mohammad Alam Ezdyar and some other figures.

Former president, Hamid Karzai, head of Hizb-i-Islami Afghanistan (HIA), Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, head of Junbish-i-Islami Afghanistan, Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum and the chief negotiator of Afghan negotiating team, Masum Stanikzai were also among the delegation to attend the summit, the source said.

A member of the Afghan negotiating team who wished to go unnamed said that two HIA members, Abdul Sattar Khawasi and Ghairat Baheer, first deputy chairman of Meshrano Jirga or upper house of the parliament, Mohammad Alam Ezdyar and deputy state minister in peace affairs, Abdullah Khenjani were not members of the government’s delegation but included in the list to join the summit.

However, Abdul Fattah Ahmadzai, a spokesman of Jamiat-i-Islami Afghanistan, told Pajhwok Afghan News that the party had not been invited to the summit.

He said they did not know the reason of their abandonment in the summit but stressed that the party would attend the event if invited.

According to reports, Jamiat-i-Islami Afghanistan party has split into two parts, one headed by Salahuddin Rabbani and another by Atta Mohammad Noor.

A week back, four key members of the party, Salahuddin Rabbani, Atta Mohammad Noor, Mohammad Younus Qanoni and Ahmad Zia Massoud in a meeting behind closed doors discussed to resolve internal differences of the party and its role in the ongoing peace process.

The official said that the party members in the meeting said that they would be deprived of political changes in the country if failed to resolve their differences.

According to Russia’s foreign ministry, Moscow summit is initiated jointly by US, Russia and China and it would be also attended by Pakistan and Qatar representatives.

The US State Department said that Zalmai Khalilzad, the country’s special envoy for Afghan reconciliation process, would attend the summit.

Mds/ma