KABUL: Top Afghan officials and representatives of an anti-government armed group, led by former warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, have reported major progress in their protracted peace negotiations and both sides are expected to sign a deal, possibly sometime on Saturday next.
President Ashraf Ghani’s national unity government for months has been engaged in talks with Hekmatyar’s Hezb-i-Islami (HIA) faction, with disagreements repeatedly stalling the much-touted peace process.
Renewed hopes for the long-delayed agreement stem from late Friday’s announcement made by the fugitive warlord’s son, Habibur Rehman Hekmatyar, on his official Facebook page. He said that HIA and the Afghan government have agreed on all the articles of the draft peace document “and God willing, it will be announced on Saturday.”
“I congratulate the (Afghan) nation, and all Muslims as well as Hezb-i-Islami members on the peace deal. I hope it will go a long way in ending the war, bringing peace and blocking foreign interference (in Afghanistan),’’ said Hekmtayar’s son who is not part of HIA’s negotiating team.
A presidential spokesman Shah Hussain Murtazavi told VOA that there has been considerable progress in talks with the HIA negotiating team and promised more in course of the day.
“We have made good progress and hope to achieve more later today,” he said without discussing further details.
The groundbreaking development comes at a time when the largest insurgent group, the Taliban, has intensified attacks across Afghanistan, and has made territorial gains in parts of the country.
Unlike the Taliban, the Hekmatyar group’s influence is limited to very few Afghan provinces.
Analysts believe a peace deal with HIA might serve as a political boost to beleaguered Afghan President Ashraf Ghani who is under intense criticism for the worsening nationwide security. It would also come ahead of next month’s key summit on Afghanistan in Brussels where donors will review progress the Afghan national unity government has mad in terms of promoting political and economic reforms in the country.
Meanwhile, in a statement issued on the eve of the annual Eid festival, Taliban chief Mawlavi Hibatullah Akhundzada has urged Afghans security forces and government employees to abandon their jobs and join the group’s “legitimate jihad” against foreign invading forces.
