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KABUL (PAN): Representatives of the Afghan government, Taliban and other groups on Thursday began a three-day meeting near Paris to confer on the post-2014 situation in the country.
Fazal Rahman Orya, a spokesman for the National Coalition, told Pajhwok Afghan News that the agenda included discussions on ways of steering the country out of the war and paving the ground for peace.
The participants would explore the possibility of changing the insurgency into a viable political opposition, according to the spokesman for the opposition coalition.
Changes to the constitution and the election law are also on the agenda, Orya said, adding that the delegates would also confer on relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan.
“This informal meeting is being held behind closed doors at a secret location. There will be no declaration and the outcome is not going to be shared with the media,” he continued.
Orya hoped the meeting, where the opposition grouping is represented by Yunus Qanuni, Noorul Haq Uloomi and Humayun Shah Asifi, would be useful in breaking the ice and leading to an intra-Afghan dialogue.
President Hamid Karzai has accorded his tacit approval to the talks being sponsored the Foundation for Strategic Research. High Peace Council Secretary Masoom Stanikzai and Haji Din Muhammad are representing the government.
Members of the Taliban political bureau in Qatar, Shahabudin Dilawar and Naeem Wardak, are attending the conference on behalf of the movement at. Dilawar is a former Taliban ambassador to Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.
Dr. Ghairat Baheer, a key leader of the Hezb-i-Islami Afghanistan (HIA), has said three members of the party would attend the gathering. Representatives of the Afghan government and civil society will also attend.
Ex-vice president Ahmad Zia Massoud, Haji Mohammad Mohaqiq and Faizullah Zaki are attending on behalf of the National Front, while former interior minister Hanif Atmar is representing the Right and Justice Party.
Also among the participants are ex-Taliban ambassador Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef, Hekmat Karzai and Wolesi Jirga members Farkhanda Zahra Naderi and Nilofar Ibrahimi.