Afghan gov’t to lead intra-Afghan negotiating team: Danish

Sarwar Danish, the Second Vice President of Afghanistan said Monday that a government-led negotiating team would be formed to sit in talks with the Taliban’s representatives.

Speaking at an international conference on the Afghan refugees living in Pakistan, Danish said that Pakistan’s role in the Afghan peace process is “crucial,” stressing that without its support it is impossible to bring peace in Afghanistan.

Haroon Chakhansuri, the Acting Foreign Minister, Sayed Hussain Alemi Balkhi, the Minister of Refugees and Repatriation have also attended the conference to mark 40 years of Pakistan’s hosting Afghan refugees in Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan.

Danish emphasized that the insurgent groups in Pakistan have recruited people from refugee camps and launched attacks against the Afghan government.

Meanwhile, Danish urged neighboring countries not to use refugees as “political weapons” for their interests.

He said that millions of Afghans have returned home during the last several years from Iran and Pakistan.

Pakistan is one of the largest refugee-hosting nations in the world, reportedly home to an estimated 2.4 million registered and undocumented people who have fled Afghanistan, some as far back as the Soviet invasion of 1979.

Many live in camps, while others have built lives for themselves in Pakistan’s cities, paying rent and contributing to the economy.