Umer Daudzai, President Ashraf Ghani’s Special Envoy on Regional Affairs for Consensus on Peace, who addressed an event at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Iran on Sunday, said regional and world countries are playing their roles in the Afghan peace process but according to him “multiplicity of initiatives” is a problem for the process.

“International political will is there, the regional will is there, regional intentions are there, but there is a bit of problem also in the region and that problem is multiplicity of initiatives,” he said. 

“This is a problem because when there is multiplicity of initiatives and there is not clear coordination among them. Sometimes they delay their efforts. They occasionally prove counterproductive for the peace process. That is where my role comes in as President (Ghani’s) special envoy for bringing regional consensus (around peace),” he explained.   

Daudzai, who is also the head of the High Peace Council’s secretariat, said that he does not think that they can create consensus around peace in the region. “I call it creating synergy and coordination among the various initiatives that are aimed at creating peace to Afghanistan.” 

He said many countries played a role in the peace talks by hosting either the Taliban or the representatives of government or politicians to talk on peace. 
Daudzai thanked Iran for sharing their meeting with the Taliban before it happened last December. 

This comes days after the US negotiators and the Taliban wrapped up their 16-day talks in Doha which according to US Special Envoy, Zalmay Khalilzad, the two sides agreed in draft on two key issues under debate – the withdrawal foreign forces from Afghanistan and counterterrorism assurances.  

During his trip to Iran, Daudzai met senior Iranian officials, including Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, and discussed the Afghan peace process, the High Peace Council said in a statement on Saturday.