53 militants give up violence in Nangarhar

JALALABAD (Pajhwok): Five commanders were among 53 Taliban insurgents who joined the Afghan government-initiated peace process in eastern Nangarhar province, officials said on Tuesday.

Governor Salim Khan Kunduzi told a ceremony welcoming the reconciling rebels that the former insurgents had been active in Achin, Nazian, Ghanikhel and Momand Dara districts.

Kunduzi urged the Taliban insurgents to return to their homeland and renounce violence and stop killing their brothers and live in peace with their families if they were Afghans.

“In areas where insecurity and violence rule, there are no health clinics and other basic facilities of life. These problems deeply affect the coming generations,” the governor said.

Nangarhar peace committee chief Haji Malak Nazir told Pajhwok Afghan News the militants who joined the peace process had been operating against the government in the Shinwari zone.

“They are 53 armed militants led by their five commanders including Abdul Qayum, Qari Khalid, Adam Khan, Waqif and Kabir. They reconciled with the government as a result of efforts by the National Directorate of Security,” the peace negotiator said.

He said 10 rocket launchers, some explosives, light and heavy weapons the group turned in had been handed over to the Disarmament of Illegal Armed Groups (DIAG) programme.

One of the five commanders, Waqif alias Qari Yasin, told Pajhwok Afghan News that he joined the peace process with his 20 fighters.

“We had been committing sabotage activities in the Shinwari zone. Now when foreign troops had left, the Afghan soldiers are our brothers and we don’t want to fight against them. We will fight those killing our elders, religious scholars and civilians.”

Abdul Qayum, another reconciling insurgent leader, said: “I urge Taliban fighters who are in the battlefield to come and join the peace process.”

According to the provincial peace committee, so far 737 militants have joined the reconciliation programme in Nangarhar.

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