The government is expected to announce within days the names of those to be included in the High Council of Peace, a body that will be tasked with seeking talks with the Taliban.

President Hamid Karzai issued a directive instituting the council in early September, in the presence of his Cabinet and other prominent figures. The formation of a peace council was one of the key recommendations of the National Consultative Peace Jirga, a gathering of representatives from all over the country, held in Kabul in early June.

Government officials say that the formation of the council is a significant step towards peace negotiations. But Dr. Abdullah Abdullah, leader of the political opposition movement, has criticized the government’s efforts, saying that these moves only strengthen the armed opponents of the government.

Presidential spokesperson Siamak Herawi told www.afghanistanvotes.com that the council would include political figures, jihadi leaders, tribal elders, women and members of civil society.

“It represents tangible progress on the road to a sustainable peace,” he said.

But in a press conference following the announcement of the peace council, Abdullah railed against the government for what he termed behind-the-scenes negotiations with the Taliban.

“The Afghan people have raised many questions about peace talks,” he said.  ”What kind of peace is this and with whom are we trying to reconcile? What does the government want? Karzai’s government discloses less than what it does behind the screen. People do not know the facts.” 

Herawi rejects such allegations, saying that every effort towards peace talks with the armed opposition has taken place in the presence of the people’s representatives.

Although the Afghan government expresses optimism about the formation of the council, Sebghatullah Mojaddedi, the speaker of upper house of Parliament, has warned that the council cannot achieve its goals without the cooperation of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence Agency (ISI).

“ISI has close relations with the leaders of the Taliban; so the council will only succeed if the ISI cooperates in this regard,” said Mojaddedi.

According to Herawi, there will be 50 to 60 members in the council.

According to media reports, the preliminary session on the formation of the council was attended by a number of jihadi leaders including Burhannudin Rabani, Abdul Rasul Sayyaf, Sebghatullah Mojaddedi, Mohammad Mohaqiq as well as scores of government officials including Mohammad Karim Khalili, the second Vice President, Abdul Hadi Arghandiwal, Minister of the Economy, Habibullah Ghalib, the Minister of Justice, and the president’s security advisor, Rangin Dadfur Spanta.

A number of former Taliban officials also attended the session, including Wakil Ahmad Mutawakil, Arsallah Rahmani, Mohammad Musa Hotak, Abdul Hakim Mujahid and Habibullah Pawzi.

This is the first time that former leaders of the Taliban who are not engaged in the current Taliban insurgency have been openly involved in peace talks.

But representatives of civil society and human rights groups, as well as women’s rights activists, expressed concern that they were not invited to be present at the session.

In an interview with the BBC, Mohammad Naim Nazari, coordinator for the Civil Society and Human Rights Network, said that the absence of civil society in the peace process would damage the overall effort.

“We have no information about the principles of this council,” he said. “Even if our representatives are ultimately included in the council, it will just be symbolic, because we were not invited to the founding session.”

Political analyst Ahmad Saeedi said that the formation of the peace council was a constructive step, but added that it must contain figures who command the trust of the armed opposition.

“Those who were at the founding session do not have that trust,” he said.

This is not the first peace council established by the government. Mojaddedi chairs the Peace and Reconciliation Commission, which seeks to reintegrate Taliban fighters who agree to lay down their arms. This commission is expected to be dissolved once the new peace council is established, with Mojaddedi heading the new body.

The armed opposition, which includes the Taliban and Hezb-e-Islami, has not yet issued an official reaction to the peace council. But nor have they retracted their precondition for peace talks – the withdrawal of all foreign forces from Afghanistan.