Some Wolesi Jirga members on Saturday said Afghan government has been sidelined in peace process and stressed over the leadership and ownership of the peace talks by the government of Afghanistan.
Lawmakers expressed concern at a time when effort for peace talks had been accelerated. US Special Envoy for Afghan Reconciliation Process Zalmay Khalilzad had recently held a meeting with the Taliban in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), but the Taliban rejected meeting the Afghan government delegation.
Mirbat Khan Mangal, a lawmaker from Paktia province, asked the Taliban to hold direct talks with the Afghan government, adding that some regional countries had been seeking their interest in the peace process.
He said the Taliban’s talks with regional and western countries may not yield result and stressed over the peace process to be owned and led by the Afghan government.
Saleh Mohammad Saljoqi, a lawmaker from Herat province, also stressed over the Taliban talks with Afghan government and said the Afghan government was sidelined in the peace negotiation recently conducted.
A number of the lawmakers asked the Taliban to conduct direct talks with the government and provide opportunity for intra-Afghan dialogue.
Speaker Abdul Rauf Ibrahimi said the issue of peace has become a hot debate in Afghanistan and the region and Afghanistan, he said, as nation and state had been sidelined in this process.
“Remove you difference in connection to peace process in order to find and unified strategy,” he told the leaders of the government.
