Government officials, religious scholars, activists and youths from northeastern provinces at a gathering in Kunduz province on Thursday, in the northeast of Afghanistan, said they support peace efforts underway by the Afghan government and its international allies to reach direct talks with the Taliban.

Participants of the gathering meanwhile remembered Gen. Abdul Raziq, former police chief of Kandahar, who was assassinated in a militant attack last month.

The participants said that they decided to form a commission comprised of tribal elders, religious scholars, youths and civil society activists of northeastern provinces to work for peace. 

“Today, more than 500 people from northeastern provinces including Kunduz, Badakhshan, Takhar and Baghlan have gathered here to pay tribute to Gen. Raziq and meanwhile we decided to form a commission to discuss peace and work thoroughly in this respect,” said Haji Zahir, a tribal elder from Kunduz.

“The participants announced their support to peace because our people deserve peace and they said they support any process which brings security and peace to the country,” said Marzia Rustami, a resident of Kunduz.

The remarks come as President Ashraf Ghani announced government’s peace plan at Geneva Conference on Afghanistan. 

Meanwhile, the US Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad on Wednesday said that the Afghan people deserve peace and that they are at war for 40 years. 

“We are in hurry to end the Afghan tragedy," Khalilzad said in an interview with US's PBS news agency.