Civil society institutions and women’s rights activists on Saturday said that a recent order by President Ashraf Ghani in which he ordered the establishment of the High Council of Women is only a "symbolic" move towards women’s empowerment, adding that there is a need to increase women’s presence in the government institutions on the threshold of the intra-Afghan talks.

However, the Presidential Palace has said that the creation of the High Council of Women is aimed to empower the women of Afghanistan and develop their social activities.

“The main purpose of this council is to empower the women, support them and develop their activities and also to promote coordination and ensure better monitoring and pursue international commitments towards women,” said Durani Waziri, a deputy spokeswoman to President Ashraf Ghani.

Meanwhile, the Afghan Women’s Network and Equality for Peace and Democracy (EPD) stressed the need for the preservation of women’s rights in the peace process.

“It's important that women be present in the peace process. They should have a strong and meaningful presence; women’s roles should not be symbolic,” said Zarqa Yaftali, a member of the Afghan Women’s Network.

“No group is able to push the Afghan women to the sidelines or think that the women are not important,” said Shinkai Karokhel, a member of parliament.

This comes a week after Ghani in a decree announced the creation of the High Council of Women. But women’s rights activists have said that the creation of this council--under the auspices of the Ministry of Women Affairs (MoWA)-- is not necessary.

“With the establishment of this council, the issue of women will be separated from other topics--while the issues related to women are not any separate issue. We need to have the presence of women in the High Economic Council and other areas so that the women are able to raise their voice through such forums,” said Nargis Nehan, a women’s rights activist.

The Afghan government has constantly said that it will not compromise on the gains the Afghans have made in the past two decades in the peace process with the Taliban.