February 3, 2021
The head of the High Council of National Reconciliation, Abdullah Abdullah launched the women’s commission of the council on Tuesday, and mentioned that it is essential to guarantee the role of the Afghan public in the peace process with representatives from all spheres of society, including Afghan women. He further added that women’s rights will not be overlooked in the peace talks.
“(We must) focus all energy and power in one place to increase the share of people from the villages to the city and to the center of Afghanistan, particularly the share of the women of the country and to ensure the reflection of their voice and legitimate rights in all phases of the peace process until we get to peace,” said Abdullah.
This comes as Afghan negotiators have been in Doha since September 12 where they are making efforts to settle an agreement about concluding the conflict in Afghanistan.
The discussions between the Taliban and the Afghan government have not created any solution so far and the degree of violence is still immense.
The Taliban try to legitimize the violence by insisting that they fight to bring an Islamic system to the republic.
Afghan women have been persistently trying to guarantee that women’s gains are not given up in the peace process by continuously lobbying with the parties to the conflict.
The Taliban have asserted that the peace negotiations will result in the replacement of the current government with an Islamic government in Afghanistan under the incumbent President Ashraf Ghani.
In the light of the February 29 US-Taliban peace agreement, the Taliban claim that an Islamic government will replace the Ghani government as a result of the intra-Afghan peace negotiations.
After their meeting in the Iranian capital Tehran this week, the Taliban’s delegation said in a press conference that if the US and NATO forces continue to stay in Afghanistan after May, the Taliban will earn the right to protect their country and free it of any intruders.
However, the Office of the National Security Council (ONSC) said that it is untimely to talk about the political system in Afghanistan, along with suggesting that the Taliban should stop spreading violence instead of making remarks about their own government.
© Center for Research and Security Studies (CRSS) and Afghan Studies Center (ASC), Islamabad.
