ISLAMABAD: The second round of peace talks between the Afghan government and Taliban will be held next week to take forward the reconciliation process which began in Murree earlier this month (July 7).

The talks under the 2+1+2 Initiative or the Murree Peace process are expected to be held on Friday (July 31) and will also be attended by officials from Pakistan, US and China.

VENUE: There have been conflicting claims about the venue of the next round of talks.

A senior Pakistani official told Dawn that the second round of talks would be held in Pakistan.

Afghan officials have, meanwhile, been telling the media in Kabul that China would host the upcoming round.

AGENDA: Officials said that ceasefire and other confidence-building measures were high on the agenda for the next meeting.

In a recent statement, President Ashraf Ghani had asked Taliban representatives to come to the next meeting with written demands. In Murree, the Taliban delegation had called for withdrawal of foreign forces and lifting of the UN sanctions on their leaders. They had also raised the issue of treatment of Taliban prisoners in Afghan jails.

The last meeting had ended on a positive note with both sides agreeing to develop confidence-building measures.

Encouraged by the progress during the Murree meeting, Taliban chief Mullah Omar later, in his annual Eid message, endorsed the dialogue as “legitimate”.

President Ghani had in his Eid message welcomed Mullah Omar’s support for the dialogue and said that talks were the only way to end the war.

A brief pause in Taliban hostilities during Eid is also being seen by analysts as a positive sign.

DELEGATIONS: Both Taliban and Afghan government are finalising their delegations for the meeting. At the last round, the Taliban delegation was led by former Taliban-era attorney general Mullah Abbass Durrani, while the Afghan side, headed by deputy foreign minister Hekmat Khalil Karzai, included advisers of President Ghani and Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah. There could be minor changes in both delegations.

The Taliban delegation could include a senior representative from their political office in Doha, while the Afghan government is likely to include representatives of civil society and women on their side.

A spokesman for High Peace Council Shazada Shahid confirmed that a woman would be included in the government team. President Ghani had in June promised women that they “will not have a symbolic but a genuine role in the peace negotiations”.

Analysts attribute the beginning of the reconciliation talks to improved ties between Islamabad and Kabul following the change of government in Afghanistan after last year’s elections.

CREDIT FOR PAK ARMY: The Pakistan Army is credited with the start of the reconciliation process.

Commander of Resolute Support Mission and US Forces in Afghanistan General John Campbell, during his visit to Rawalpindi on Thursday, praised Army Chief Gen Raheel Sharif for “facilitating the Murree Peace talks” between the Afghan government and Taliban.

Gen Sharif had in February carried a Taliban message to President Ghani about their willingness to join reconciliation process. But premature leaks about the communication from Kabul had delayed the process for months.

Published in Dawn, July 25th, 2015

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