Afghan Gov’t ‘issued passports’ for members of Taliban’s office in Qatar

Afghanistan’s High Peace Council  (HPC)  says the government has issued passports for the members of the Taliban’s political office in Qatar as part of the efforts to boost peace process with the group.

The council’s spokesman Sayed Ehsan Tahiri told Ariana News that recently,  the head of Taliban’s Qatar office Sher Mohammad Abas Stanekzai with a delegation of the group had traveled to Uzbekistan and Indonesia with Afghan passport.

According to HPC,  Abas stanekzai’s travel to Uzbekistan took place in  early August and his travel to Indonesia was between 12-15 August.  The Taliban in a statement said that the group’s delegation met with Vice President and Foreign Minister of Indonesia and spoke about their future plans on peace.

The HPC spokesman further said that the Taliban delegation’s recent visits including to Uzbekistan were aimed at facilitating peace talks. “They traveled with Afghan passports in coordination with the Afghan government,” Tahiri said.

The Taliban spokesman said the type of Afghan passport as the Taliban delegation were being offered with was confidential.  But close figures to the Taliban said that the group has no limitation to obtain Afghan passport.

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Indonesian Clerics ‘Will Visit Kabul To Condemn War’

The Indonesian vice president and a group of that country’s religious scholars will visit Kabul in the near future and are expected to condemn the ongoing war as illegitimate, Mohammad Karim Khalili, the head of the High Peace Council, said at a press conference on Wednesday.

“Our main duty is to end the war and begin the peace negotiations,” Khalili said. “People should be involved in the peace process. We had discussions with political parties and they announced their support to the peace process.”

He said the promotion of the peace process by Afghanistan and Pakistan media will change things in the region.

“We had a discussion with Pakistani journalists who visited Kabul (this week) and talked about the peace process and their role in it,” he said.

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