Afghan officials and politicians will attend the scheduled intra-Afghan dialogue with their personal capacity and they will not represent the government or any political movement, sources said.
Suhail Shaheen, a spokesman of the Taliban’s political office in Doha, said that 60 delegates will attend the two-day summit.
Some of delegates invited to the meeting said the meeting will open the ground for an important meeting.
“The meeting which is expected to be held on 7 and 8 of July in Doha is not a decision making event but it will work on preparations and agenda of a big meeting and also in the coming meeting ceasefire, Afghan’s problems, constitution and other issues will be discussed,” said Hassan Haqyar, delegate of the meeting.
The Afghan Foreign Ministry supported the peace efforts in Qatar.
“We welcome the Qatar meetings. All stages of the Qatar talks have been shared with the national unity government, and we are fully aligned with the United States. We look forward to the earliest opportunity for peace talks and all the steps to be taken so that we can enter into dialogue with the Taliban directly. The conditions we have already mentioned once again we emphasizes on,” said Sibghatullah Ahmadi, spokesman for Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
This comes after Germany’s Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Markus Potzel, said in a statement on Tuesday that as part of their efforts to support the peace process in Afghanistan, Germany and Qatar will convene an Intra-Afghan Dialogue Conference to be held in Doha on 7 and 8 July, 2019.
“Afghanistan stands at a critical moment of opportunity for progress towards peace,” Potzel said, adding that “an essential component of any process leading to this objective will be a direct engagement between Afghans.”
“Only Afghans themselves can decide the future of their country. An Intra-Afghan Dialogue can help clarify the options and opportunities of such direct engagement,” he added.
Germany and Qatar hope that this event will contribute to trust-building among key stakeholders, representing a wide spectrum of the Afghan people and society, and thus foster peace and stability in Afghanistan and the wider region.
Meanwhile, the US Special Envoy Zalmay Khalilzad in a tweet on Monday night thanked Germany and Qatar for hosting the July 7-8 intra-Afghan Dialogue Conference and said that this dialogue is an essential element of the four-part peace framework and an important step in advancing the Afghan peace process.
