Two weeks have passed since Abdullah Abdullah and President Ashraf Ghani signed a political agreement making Abdullah the head of the newly-established High Council for National Reconciliation.
 
But the High Council for National Reconciliation so far has not started work, say sources.
 
But the Presidential Palace says things are on track:

“Important work has been done in this sphere. It is expected that with the appointment of members of the High Council for National Reconciliation, other important steps will also be taken,” said Sediq Sediqqi, a spokesman for President Ashraf Ghani.
 
Sources close to Abdullah Abdullah have said that disagreements among Abdullah’s supporters are about the filling of positions under his area of authority. 
 
“Consecutive holidays and also the issue of the appointments of the individuals---because everyone wants a bigger role---perhaps this has created some problems to convince them on the issue of sharing the posts,” said Sayed Eshaq Gailani, chairman Nahzat-e-Hambastagi Milli Afghanistan party.
 
Sources meanwhile said that there are serious differences between Abdullah and the leadership of Jamiat-e-Islami party about the designation of members of the peace council.
 
“The leadership council of Jamiat-e-Islami has their own perspective while Dr. Abdullah has his own ideas, but the ideas of the leadership council of Jamiat will never be influenced by Abdullah’s decisions,” said Abdul Sattar Murad, member council the Jamiat-e-Islami leadership council.
 
The duty of the council is to create national, regional and international consensus on peace, attract international support for peace, and attract international support and assistance for post-peace reconstruction efforts.

According to the agreement, Abdullah will lead the council and he will receive the same security and protocol privileges as the number two person in the country.

The council will be an independent budgetary unit, based on the agreement, and will be funded by the government, but it will also receive financial support from the international community.

The head of the council, Abdullah Abdullah, will have the full authority over the spending of the budget of the reconciliation council and the expenses are not exempted from assessment, the agreement says.
 
The council will be comprised of political leaders, national figures, representatives of the houses of the parliament, representatives of different political and community layers, the civil society, and women and youth, the agreement says.
 
The High Council of National Reconciliation will have two sections: (1) The general assembly, and (2) the leadership committee.