Reconciliation Talks with the Taliban and Other Insurgent Groups
The purpose of this paper is to provide a brief explanation and history of reconciliation talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban and other insurgent groups. More comprehensive information is available at www.cimicweb.org. Hyperlinks to original source material are highlighted in blue and underlined in the text.
Both Al Jazeera and The Washington Post recently reported that talks have begun between the Afghan government and the Taliban behind closed doors, with a view to bring peace and stability to Afghanistan. Almost 10 years after the beginning of the conflict it is more important than ever to bring insurgent groups to the negotiation table to put an end to violence and reach a political settlement.
The news of the talks came after the announcement by Hamid Karzai of the launch of the High Peace Council and the nomination of its 70 members on 28 September 2010. The High Peace Council was initially established at the June National Consultative Peace Jirga held in Kabul (for more information on the High Peace Council, see the 09 September CFC Weekly Afghanistan Review, Justice and Reconciliation section). The final resolution of the Peace Jirga stated that "a High Peace Council or Commission should be created to follow-up on the recommendations made by the Jirga and the Peace Process."
