40 nations welcome upcoming consultative Loya Jirga: MoFA

KABUL (Pajhwok): The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) on Wednesday said 40 countries have welcomed the upcoming consultative Loya Jirg in Kabul.

On the first day of the Eid-al Adah, President Ashraf Ghani suggested convening the Loya Jirga to decide on the fate of the 400 prisoners on a Taliban list handed to his administration.

The Loya Jirga said to be convened on upcoming Friday August 7. The gathering may last three to five days.

In a statement, the MoF said that Afghanistan had host two events to strengthen regional and global consensus on the peace process on Tuesday.

The statement said the conferences were held under the leadership of acting minister of foreign affairs Mohammad Hanif Atmar and Kabul based a number of Ambassadors and representatives from international organizations were via video call.

It added in the two meetings representatives around from 40 nations were took part in it.

Participants of the meetings have exchanged discussion  over the Taliban prisoners release, importance of ceasefire, respect to the victims’ families, importance of the people’s participation in the  peace consultative Loya Jirga and immediate start to the peace talks.

Mohammad Hanif Atmar talked over the Afghan government steps for the peace process and the released of 5,000 Taliban prisoners and negotiations over reaching to the peace process were discussed, it added.

The participants were also briefed over the preparation for the upcoming peace consultative Loya Jirga and about its historical and political value.

It added that Atmar also talked about the Loya Jirga’s purposes, agenda, structure and the Afghan government demands from the international allies.

A grand assembly of tribal elders, government officials and public representatives will convene to decide the fate of the 400 Taliban prisoners on August 7.

Under the Feb. 29 peace agreement between the United States and the Taliban, Kabul has to free 5,000 Taliban inmates and in return, the militant movement has already released 1,000 government soldiers.

According to the National Security Council (NSC), the government has released 317 more Taliban militants in the past three days, taking the total number to 4,914.

PK