Govt, Taliban should agree on third party mediation

KABUL (Pajhwok): The People’s Peace Movement (PPM) asked the government and Taliban to agree on a mediating team to be comprised of neutral Afghans for resolving controversial issues during their peace negotiations.

A statement from PPM received by Pajhwok Afghan News said the second round of peace negotiations began amid high level of violence and targeted killings in different parts of the country that claim the lives of dozens of Afghans daily. All highways of the country are full of security threats and only people with serious urgency commute them and the situation has led to increased prices of all goods in markets, the statement added.

The PPM said that ongoing violence in the country had no justification in any religion and laws and the negotiating teams should positively respond to the demands of the Afghan people. “The first thing the negotiators should focus on should be ending violence and agreeing on a ceasefire”, the movement said.

It said that a third party to be comprised of neutral Afghans should be also created to mediate and help resolve controversial issues during negotiations and the UN and the international community should support such a team. PPM said if the first option failed, the second suggestion should be convening of a traditional council (Loya Jirga) of tribal elders, Ulema and youths in an area where both the Taliban and government agreed to settle their differences.

It said decisions made by the neutral Afghans should be acceptable to all parties and the international community and the region should support them. The source added that differences between negotiating teams would not be solved unless there was a neutral Afghan team to mediate in the process.