Ghairat Baheer, head of the political wing of Hizb-e-Islami, said Saturday that a four-member delegation from Hizb-e-Islami Afghanistan (HIA) is expected to arrive in Kabul with a few days to resume peace talks with the Afghan government.
This comes after initial rounds of talks hit a deadlock in June reportedly over certain demands tabled by the militant group.
Meanwhile, Afghanistan’s High Peace Council (HPC) has said that the draft peace accord with Hizb-e-Islami has been finalized. They said they hope the accord will be signed by both parties.
“The negotiations will be resumed from the point it had stopped; we hope that these talks yield an outcome and the accord is finalized,” said Baheer.
“We believe that the agreement between the HPC and HIA is already finalized, but let’s see what issues the delegation will raise after coming to Kabul; we will clarify our position after hearing them,” said Attaurrahman Saleem, deputy head of the HPC and the council’s negotiator.
The Afghan public meanwhile is hoping that any talks with the militant group should not undermine the gains the country has made in different sectors over the past fifteen years, including that regarding human rights, women’s rights, press freedom and democratic values.
“Asking for privileges in the peace negotiation talks is an important issue, the issue of human rights and release of prisoners must be raised seriously in this round of talks; HIA members who were detained on the basis of the law, their release needs to be tackled within the framework of the law as well,” said Rafiullah Bedar, a commissioner from the Independent Human Rights Commission of Afghanistan.
Back in June, the Afghan government and the HIA reportedly finalized a draft peace accord to bring back the militant group to country, however the talks hit a deadlock when HIA set a number of preconditions to government including that relating to the exact date for a withdrawal of foreign forces, the presence of HIA representatives on election commissions and the appointment of HIA members in various government institutions. www.tolonews.com/en/afghanistan/26615-govt-hizb-e-islami-expected-to-resume-talks
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