KABUL - High Peace Council (HPC) secretary Mohammad Akram Khapalwak on Wednesday said an international ulema conference on peace in Afghanistan will take place in Saudi Arabia in near future.
Testifying before the Meshrano Jirga, Khpalwak called the conference in Saudi Arabia a major backing for the Afghan peace process.
“We hope in the next week we will enter the second phase of peace talks, which is the beginning of intra-Afghan talks,” Khapalwak told senators after being summoned to explain progress in the peace process.
He said the government and HPC were fully prepared for peace talks with the Taliban but what they awaited was the rebels’ response
Khapalwak did not provide details about the first phase of negotiations with the Taliban, but added necessary preperations had been made on national, regional and global levels.
About no indication from the Taliban about their willingness to enter intra-Afghan talks, the HPC secretary said: “We hope the Taliban will introduce an authoritative and powerful delegation for intra-Afghan talks with government and optimism in this regard is growing with each passing day.”
He reiterated all preparations for direct talks with the Taliban had been made by the HPC and there existed no handicap.
Once time for the second phase of negotiations arrived, the method how to involve people, politicians and the parliament in the process would be made clear.
Khapalwak did not identify the venue of talks, but said such talks would not take place in Pakistan.
He said a high level international ulema conference on peace in Afghanistan will be held in Saudi Arabia, in which 24 qualified religious scholars from Afghanistan will participate.
The people of Afghanistan would witness major changes related to peace talks in coming weeks, Khapalwak maintained.
It is worth mentioning the Taliban have categorically ruled out talks with the Kabul government and instead want the US to enter such talks with them. (Pajhwok)