News Analysis: Talks between dissident group and Afghan gov't encouraging step toward national reconciliation

Despite the Taliban refusing to come to the negotiating table with the government and work towards reconciliation, the Afghan administration has initiated peace talks with Hizb-e-Islami, the Hekmatyar-led Islamic Party, which is the third-largest militant group after the Taliban and Islamic State outfits in the conflict-hit country.

A delegation of Hizb-e-Islami is in Kabul and is engaged in talks with the government-backed peace body, the High Peace Council, traversing ways and means to join the establishment, according to political observers.

The radical faction of Hizb-e-Islami, led by Gulbudin Hekmatyar, has been fighting the government and U.S.-led foreign forces stationed in Afghanistan over the past 15 years.

Opposing the presence of foreign troops in Afghanistan, Hizb-e-Islami has always in the past demanded the complete withdrawal of foreign forces from Afghanistan, the formation of a provisional administration and the holding of elections in the country as pre-conditions for peace talks.

However, this time, the group has reportedly entered the talks without any preconditions in a bid to reach a peace agreement and bring an end to the protracted fighting in Afghanistan.

Afghans in general have welcomed the step taken by Hizb-e-Islami to support the peace talks and boost the national reconciliation efforts in the war-torn nation.

Welcoming the step taken by Hizb-e-Islami, the government-backed peace body High Peace Council is looking with optimism at reaching a results-oriented deal with the group within days or weeks, sources close to the matter have said.

"There are differences in opinions and I am hopeful these differences will change from armed conflict to political differences," advisor on international affairs with HPC Mohammad Ismael Qasimyar told local media recently.

Qasimyar also said he hoped that instead of an armed struggle that the Hekmatyar party would opt for a political one.

The Quadrilateral Coordination Group (QCG) of the four-nation talks, which include Afghanistan, Pakistan, China and United States, in its fourth round of talks held in Kabul on February 23 urged the Taliban and like-minded groups to initiate talks with the Afghan government in the first week of March.

Following the call of the QCG, the Taliban militants, however, have refused to negotiate with the Afghan government, but the Hekmatyar-led faction responded positively and sent a negotiating team to Kabul some two weeks ago.

The High Peace Council is also hopeful that a potential agreement with Hizb-e-Islami could be finalized in the near future and possibly within weeks.

Former president, Sibghatullah Mujadadi, also hailed Hekmatyar's decision for attending the peace talks and called upon Hekmatyar to give up fighting and return home to serve the country.

Hekmatyar's top negotiator Karim Amini in talks with local media recently predicted that sealing a peace agreement between Hizb-e-Islami and the government would motivate Taliban factions to also initiate peace talks.

Afghan political observers also believe that some Taliban figures and the faction led by Mullah Mohammad Rasoul would support the peace process if the government exploits the differences between Rasoul and his rival Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansoor, the leader of the Taliban's main faction. Endit