Leading a high-level delegation, Chairman of the High Council for National Reconciliation (HCNR) Abdullah Abdullah will leave Kabul tomorrow, Wednesday, March 17, to attend the Moscow conference on the Afghan peace process. The Moscow conference is set to take place on coming Thursday, March 18.
Though the HCNR did not detail on members of the delegation, a list leaked to the Afghan media suggests that the delegation is comprised of the Parliament Speaker Mir Rahman Rahmani, Deputy Head of the HCNR Babur Farahmand, the State Minister for Peace Sayed Saadat Mansour Naderi, Former President Hamid Karzai, Former VPs Marshal Abdul Rashid Dostum, and Mohammad Karim Khalili, and leader of Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin Hekmatyar.
Mohammad Masoom Stankezai, Matin Beig, Ahmad Nader Naderi, and Habiba Sarabi who are all members of the government-led negotiation team will reportedly attend the conference. Mohammad Alam Izadyar, first deputy chairman of the Senate, Abdullah Khenjani, deputy state minister for peace, Abdul Sattar Khawasi and Ghairat Baheer, members of the Hezb-e-Islami, are also likely to participate in the Moscow conference.
The HCNR Spokesperson Feraidoon Khwazoon confirmed that some of the aforementioned figures are members of the delegation that will represent the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan in the upcoming Moscow conference.
The conference will be also attended by a 10-member Taliban delegation led by the group’s deputy leader Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, representatives from regional countries, including Pakistan and China, and most importantly by the US Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad.
Talking to reporters, deputy State Department spokeswoman Jalina Porter said that the Moscow conference will “compliment” all other international efforts to support the Afghanistan peace process and also reflects the international community’s concerns about progress to date.
