Head of the secretariat commission to convene the peace consultative Jirga:
Mohammad Umer Daudzai (20190326)

Deputy commission chief for consultative peace Jirga:
Zia-ul-Haq Amarkhel (20190406)

Administrative and financial deputy:

Najib Amin (20190326)

Coordinating deputy of this commission:
Shoaib Rahim (20190326)

u/i Function:
Daud Kalakani (20190408)
 

Members of the Commission for the Consultative Peace Loya Jirga were appointed on 4 April 2019 at the meeting chaired by Omar Daudzai.

The 19-member commission includes

Fazel Karim Fazel, owner of Shamshad TV and President Ghani’s advisor on peace;
Abdul Wahab Erfan, a former senator from Takhar province;
former MP Abbas Noyan;
Abdul Haq Shafaq, former governor of Faryab and Samangan provinces;
Mohammad Ayoub Rafiqi, presidential advisor and former executive secretary of HPC;
Abdul Rashid Ayoubi, senior advisor to President Ghani;
Daud Kalakani, former MP from Kabul;
Mohammad Seddiq Patman, member of the New National Front led by Anwarul Haq Ahadi;
Khan Jan Alakozay, deputy head of Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce and Industry;
Jamahir Anwary, ex-minister of refugees and repatriation;
Fawzia Aral, advisor to the minister of finance;
Humayun Qayoumi, former journalist with Radio Azadi;
Malalai Shinwari, advisor to President Ghani on youth affairs;
Sayed Ali Kazimi , former MP from Kabul;
Aminuddin Muzafari, former senator from Kapisa province;
Nasrin Oryakhail, former minister of labour and social affairs;
Ziaulhaq Amarkhail, senior advisor to the president and former IEC CEO;
Nilofar Ibrahimi, former MP from Badakhshan;
Sarir Ahmad Barmak, senior advisor to President Ghani on electoral affairs and former IEC commissioner;
Rohullah Niazi, deputyhead of Administration Department at IDLG.
 

The Jirga delegates have mentioned the following demands in their resolution: 

1.    Afghans remain committed to bringing a durable peace in the country. 

2.    Taliban should listen to the Afghan people, end violence and bloodshed and take part in the country’s development. 

3.    There should be a unified view of Islam by the Taliban and the country’s religious scholars. 

4.    The Afghan government and the Taliban should agree on an immediate ceasefire starting from the first day of Ramadhan. 

5.    The Islamic Republic system should be preserved. 

6.    Afghanistan’s Constitution should be preserved and if needed, amendments should be brought to it through required legitimate mechanisms.

7.    The basic rights of all Afghans, including women’s rights and their rights for education, should be preserved in the peace process. 

8.    A strong Afghan National Defense and Security Forces is a need for ensuring durable peace in the country.

9.    The Peace Jirga delegates call on the involved parties and countries in the peace process to provide the ground for the opening of the Taliban’s political office in Afghanistan.

10.    The Peace Jirga delegates call on the Afghan government to preserve the achievements of the past two decades and in collaboration with the international community prepare a timeline for “responsible” withdrawal of foreign forces from Afghanistan. 

11.    Members of the Peace Jirga call on all political parties and movements as well as influential figures in the country to enter the peace talks through a unified position. 

12.    All involved parties should prevent from recommending preconditions for starting direct peace talks. 

13.    All involved parties should implement flexibility towards prisoners and act on releasing prisoners as a goodwill gesture and for creating trust environment.

14.    The delegates call on the international community and countries in the region to coordinate their peace efforts with the Afghan government and place the government of Afghanistan in the center of these efforts. 

15.    The Jirga delegates call on the Afghan government to maintain good relations with regional and neighboring countries in all its peace efforts and if it sees any interference by these countries, it should lodge its complaint to the United Nations Security Council. 

16.    The Afghan government should expedite its consultations with influential figures in the country on peace efforts and on starting direct talks with the Taliban.

17.    Reforms should be brought to the structure, formation, and activities of the High Peace Council. 

18.    The negotiating team should include at least 50 members from former Jihadi leaders, religious scholars, women, youths, Kochis and representatives of different classes of the society.

19.    Taliban’s legitimate demands should be recognized by the Afghan government and it should take required steps for trust building. 

20.     The Peace Jirga delegates remain committed to their efforts for peace as the messengers of peace and they will pass on the message of the Jirga to the relevant areas. 

21.    The Jirga delegates call on the Afghan government to ensure good relations with the delegates and keep them updated about consultations and developments in the peace talks. 

22.    The Afghan government, the Taliban, the international community, regional countries, and other involved parties should respect the demands of the Jirga delegates and take practical steps to reduce violence.

23.     All suggestions and recommendations of the 50 committees of the Jirga should be published as an official document.

Background:
The peace consultative Loya Jirga is scheduled to be held in Kabul on April 29 to determine the “limits and framework for negotiating with the Taliban” as well as “how to achieve peace”.

The Taliban has announced that the representatives of the group will not participate in consultative peace Jirga (tribal council) which is scheduled to be organized later this month. The Taliban considered this peace consultative Loya Jirga similar to that of the Soviets and the 2013 Loya Jirga.The 2013 consultative Loya Jirga was held in Kabul to get consultations over signing the Kabul-Washington security pact. In the end, the People voted for the Kabul-Washington security agreement, but former President Hamid Karzai did not sign the treaty and left it to the current government.
“all the meetings labeled a Loya Jirga over the course of the past seventeen years are convened with the sole purpose of giving legitimacy for the occupation, protecting interests of the invaders,” said a Taliban statement. (20190410)
 

The Ministry of Finance has confirmed that consultative peace Jirga (tribal council) will cost the government an estimated 369 million Afghanis (US$ 5 Mio) which would be funded by presidential palace.

In the meantime, deputy commission chief for consultative peace Jirga Zia-ul-Haq Amarkhel has said that all preparations are in place to convene the Jirga. Amarkhel further added that Jirga has been scheduled for 29th of April in which at least two thousand would participate. According to Amarkhel, the government leaders do not have membership in upcoming peace Jirga and would participate as guests. He also added that Jirga would comprise of 23 sections to represent political parties, civil society, tribal elders, and members of the national council. In the meantime, a number of political elders and residents of the country have urged the government leaders to consider transparency in expenditure of the budget of Jirga and respect its outcome regarding reconciliation process.(20190406)

The commissioners all seem to be from the Ghani camp. It is also interesting that the former minister of refugees and repatriation, Jamahir Anwary, is among the commissioners. His ministerial tenure (from June 2010 to December 2014) will mainly be remembered for the accusations of corruption, nepotism and embezzlement of government and international aid agencies’ funds. Anwary was called in by both houses of parliament (Wolesi Jirga and Meshrano Jirga) for questioning. Among other things, the Afghan media reported that Anwary was summoned over allegations of graft, including embezzlement of funds, failure to clear the ministry’s power bills, anomalies in recruitment and the ministry’s overall failure to address the plight of refugees.
 

The four questions that the delegates consulted on were:

• How to convince the Taliban for negotiations to end the war and bring peace and stability to the country?

• On which gains and values should the Afghan government insist during negotiations?

• According to your point of view, how the government’s negotiation team combination should look like and what characteristics the members should have?

• What policy the Afghan government should have toward its neighbors, especially the country that supports the Taliban financially and by arms?
 

“The questions were prepared by the Academy of Sciences of Afghanistan based on the Jirga’s agenda,” said Jahan Zeb Sharifi, a spokesperson for the Jirga.

Delegates said the four questions were specified by the Jirga’s secretariat ahead of the discussions and without any consultations with the committees.