Ghani’s envoy to visit Pakistan on Afghan peace

Monitoring Desk

KABUL: Mohammad Umer Daudzai, President Ashraf Ghani’s Special Envoy for Regional Affairs on Consensus about Peace and head of the High Peace Council secretariat, on Wednesday announced that he will visit Pakistan in the near future to discuss consensus around peace in regional level.

Addressing a ceremony of HPC members and civil society representatives in Kabul, Daudzai said that 2019 is the year of peace for Afghanistan.

“We really want to reach peace,” Daudzai said. “For this, we should have a regional consensus and our first trip will be to Pakistan next week and then we will decide on whether to visit Iran,” Daudzai said.

Ghani’s envoy said that there are three uncertainties about how to reach a peace deal with the Taliban.

According to him, the first uncertainty is that it is not clear what actually the countries in the region including neighboring nations want in Afghanistan. He said some counties interfere in Afghanistan’s affairs for their own interests and they are harming the people.

The second uncertainty according to Daudzai is that it is not clear what Taliban actually wants. “Are they (Taliban) really want establishment of an Islamic emirate or they want to be part of the current system?” Daudzai explained.

The third uncertainty, he said, is that so far it is not clear that what price should be given for peace deal with the Taliban. Therefore, Daudzai said, consultations are ongoing on these issues with the people.

Daudzai said today’s gathering was held to discusses government’s redlines and flexibilities in peace talks with the Taliban.

Daudzai’s remarks come amid escalating efforts by the Afghan government and the international community, US on the top, to bring the Taliban to negotiations table and put an end to the conflict in the country.

Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi visited Kabul two times last year in December where he discussed bilateral issues and peace with Afghan government leaders. (TOLOnews)