Spokesman for the High Peace Council (HPC) Maulavi Shahzada Shahid said that a delegation from the Council would be attending a gathering in Saudi Arabia of religious scholars representing the major Islamic countries of the region in order to discuss the Afghan peace process.

The upcoming conference focused on the Afghan peace process is part of a series of conferences organized in Saudi in order to convene religious scholars from around the Muslim world to discuss pressing issues.

"The meeting will be held in the Saudi city of Jeddah," Shahid said. "This is a great Islamic meeting and will be attended by religious scholars from the Muslim world and participants would look to pave the way for peace."

Although Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is expected to arrive in Kabul on Saturday, and other government efforts to kick-start the peace process continue, the HPC has taken its own initiative to bring Afghanistan one step closer to peace.

Nevertheless, a number of civil society activists have said trips such as this never yield positive outcomes so long as they don't have comprehensive, coordinated government measures behind them.

"Unfortunately, peace initiatives undertaken by the HPC in the past were incoherent and we can't expect something constructive to come from trips that are carried out without a clear strategy and roadmap," Civil Society and Human Rights Director Mohammad Naeem Nazari said.

Saudi Arabia and Pakistan are said to have major influence on the Afghan peace process. The former has been shortlisted as a possible future location for talks with the Taliban and the latter is integrally involved in Kabul's communications with the Taliban. (Tolo News)