14 March 2016•Update: 18 March 2016
By Zabihullah Tamanna
KABUL
In a major breakthrough, the Hezb-e-Islami Afghanistan (HIA) led by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar -- the country’s second largest armed opposition group -- has announced its intention to participate in planned peace talks backed by the four-nation Quadrilateral Coordination Group (QCG).
In a Sunday statement, the HIA said it had taken the decision in order to show the nation that it desired peace and that it was the U.S. and U.S.-supported groups that wanted to prolong the conflict in war-battered Afghanistan.
"The U.S. insists on war and bloodshed in Afghanistan, while certain circles within the government see the peace initiative as a threat," read the statement.
It added: "The HIA has therefore decided to take part in the peace process."
Sources within the HIA say the group has already appointed delegates to take part in the talks.
The QCG, under whose auspices talks will be held, includes representatives of the Afghan government, Pakistan, China and the U.S.
Late last year, after the Heart of Asia-Istanbul Process conference was held in Islamabad, the QCG began pushing for the resumption of Afghanistan’s stalled peace process.
Kabul, for its part, has commended the HIA’s decision to come to the negotiating table.
Presidential spokesman Zafar Hashimi said the government welcomed the participation of all armed opposition groups in the upcoming peace parleys.
He went on to warn, however, that parties that rejected the peace process and continued to engage in violence would be dealt with harshly.
Afghan government spokesman Javed Faisal, for his part, likewise called on other armed anti-government factions to join the peace process.
HIA delegations have held talks with the government in the past, but no breakthroughs have ever been achieved.
After the Taliban, the HIA is considered Afghanistan’s second largest militant outfit.
Over the past decade, it has staged several deadly attacks on Afghan and foreign military targets, including a 2013 suicide attack in Kabul that killed two soldiers and four U.S. civilian contractors, along with a number of Afghan civilians.
The Taliban, meanwhile, appear to have opted out of the upcoming peace talks.
In a recent joint statement, the QCG called on the Taliban’s various factions to take part in the upcoming talks with the government, the first round of which Pakistan has offered to host.
In a statement to Afghanistan’s Pajhwok news agency, however, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid dismissed speculation that Taliban chief Mullah Mohamed Akhtar Mansour would allow his representatives to attend the talks.
"The Islamic Emirate [the name the Taliban use to describe themselves] has not assigned anyone [to take part in talks] and the leadership council has not decided about participation in such talks," said the spokesman.
