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Afghan peace council chief passes away: official

Xinhua, January 22, 2017 Adjust font size:

The chairman of Afghan High Peace Council passed away on Saturday at the age of 85, an official said.

"Pir Sayed Ahmad Gilani died due to an illness at a hospital in Kabul late on Saturday," Farhadullah Farhad, deputy to HPC Secretariat, told Xinhua.

Gailani was also the leader of Mahaz-i-Milli Islami Party, a mujahidin faction, which fought against the troops of former Soviet Union in 1980s.

The Afghan government set up the 70-member High Peace Council and launched the peace and reconciliation process in 2010 to encourage Taliban to disarm and give up militancy against the government.

Since mid-2010, more than 10,000 Taliban militants have laid down arms and joined the government-backed peace process, according to HPC officials, but the claim has been rejected by the armed outfit as "baseless." Endit