Afghan political and religious figures, current and former government officials and women activists were appointed to be the members of the council. Among the members, seven were declared to be the deputies for the council.
President Ghani also appointed former President Hamid Karzai to the council but the president’s predecessor declined the appointment, saying he rejects to be part of any government structure.
Yousuf Saha, a spokesperson for Hamid Karzai’s office also confirmed to The Killid Group that former president rejected to be a part any government structure.
Earlier on May, after several months of a political feud stemmed from last year’s presidential elections, the Afghan President and his main electoral rival agreed to end a prolonged political standoff and signed an agreement.
According to the details of the agreement shared by media, the former Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah was appointed to chair the Afghanistan High Peace Council.
As a part of the agreement, the peace negotiating team will give an account of the process to the High Peace Council.
In February of the ongoing year, Ashraf Ghani was declared the winner of the last year’s election, but his political foe, Abdullah Abdullah disputed the results, claiming widespread fraud.
The already-delayed intra-Afghan talks to end the longest conflict of the country have yet to begin, with the prisoner releases as the main obstacle on the path to start the negotiations.
Under a peace deal the Taliban signed with the United States on late February, the Afghan government was required to release 5,000 Taliban prisoners and the insurgents to release 1,000 pro-government captives in return.
The Afghan government recently announced it will release a final batch of 320 Taliban—those behind high-profile attacks—in exchange for more government soldiers.
Following the release of prisoners, the long-delayed intra-Afghan talks are expected to be held in Qatar where the Taliban maintain a political office.
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