President Ashraf Ghani in a decree on Saturday dissolved the secretariat of the High Peace Council, an organization established by former President Hamid Karzai in 2010 to negotiate with the Taliban who refuse to reconcile with the Afghan government. 

Addressing a press conference, presidential spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said the authorities of the secretariat of the High Peace Council were handed over to the newly-established State Ministry of Peace Affairs.

Former President Burhanuddin Rabbani was the first chairman of the High Peace Council who was assassinated in a terrorist attack at his home in 2011.

Later, the peace council was run by the incumbent Acting Foreign Minister Salahuddin Rabbani, the founder of the National Islamic Front of Afghanistan Sayed Ahmad Gailani – who died in 2017 – and former Vice President Mohammad Karim Khalili. 

The High Peace Council had different offices in various provinces of Afghanistan where the members of the council were trying to encourage armed militants to join the peace process.  

This comes amid efforts by the Afghan government and its international allies, mainly the United States, to find a political settlement to the conflict in Afghanistan.

Sediqqi said at the press conference that President Ghani had met with US Special Envoy Zalmay Khalilzad four times since last week and that discussions were focused on the roadmap for peace and the negotiating team. 

Sediqqi added that the Afghan government is close to forming a negotiating team.