The Afghan government is expected to finalise a peace deal with a notorious militant insurgent group within days, marking a breakthrough in attempts to end the 15-year war, an official and a represent
The Afghan government is expected to finalise a peace deal with a notorious militant insurgent group within days, marking a breakthrough in attempts to end the 15-year war, an official and a representative of the group said on Saturday.
The deal with the armed wing of Hezb-i-Islami could be completed by Sunday, after two years of negotiations, Ataul Rahman Saleem, deputy head of Kabul’s High Peace Council said.
A senior representative of Hezb-i-Islami, Amin Karim, also said that he expected President Ashraf Ghani to approve the final version of the agreement by Sunday.
Such a deal would mark a much-needed success for Mr Ghani in forging peace with the insurgent groups fighting to overthrow the Kabul administration.
His attempts to open a dialogue with the Taliban, mainly via overtures to the Pakistan government which is believed to support it, has failed previously.
While Hezb-i-Islami has been a largely dormant force in the recent years and has little political relevance in Afghanistan, the deal with the Afghan government could be a template for any future deal with the Taliban.
The deal commits the group to end its war against Kabul, respecting the Afghan constitution, and ceasing all contacts with the other armed, anti-government groups. Hezb-i-Islami is led by warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, best known for killing thousands of people in Kabul during the 1992-1996 civil war. He is believed to be in Pakistan, though Mr Karim said he is in an unspecified location in Afghanistan and under the terms of the 25-point agreement he could soon return to Kabul to sign a formal peace deal and take up residence. Hekmatyar, in his late 60s, is designated a “global terrorist” by the United States and blacklisted by the UN. The agreement obliges the Afghan government to have the restrictions on him lifted.
Hezb-i-Islami has only intermittently been active on the battlefield for some time. Its last known major attack was in 2013, when at least 15 people, including six American soldiers, were killed in Kabul.
Mr Saleem said that Hekmatyar’s associates, including his family, appeared united behind him and “are not dissenting with their leader.” He also mentioned that a few points in the agreement were still to be thrashed out, and added that it is strongly possible that they might get to the final points on Sunday and finalize the peace negotiations
“Ghani is due to return to Kabul on Sunday from an official visit to London,” Karim said, adding that he expected the president to give his final approval to the content of the truce agreement soon after his return.
Negotiations began in July 2014, Mr Karim said, when Hekmatyar received a letter from Ghani, then campaigning to become president, noting that one of Hekmatyar’s key conditions, the withdrawal of all foreign troops from Afghanistan, was about to be met.
