Rabbani successor to be named soon: Faizi

KABUL): The government would soon nominate a new chief peace negotiator after high-level consultations, a spokesman for President Hamid Karzai said on Sunday.

High Peace Council Chairman Burhanuddin Rabbani, also a former president, was assassinated in a suicide bomb attack on his residence in Kabul in September last year.

In an exclusive interview with Pajhwok Afghan News, Karzai’s spokesman Aimal Faizi said the President had consulted his close aides on nominating Rabbani’s successor.

Sources say renowned jihadi leader Sibghatullah Mujaddedi, National Front chief Pir Syed Ahmad Ali Gilani and Rabbani’s son Salahuddin Rabbani are being considered for the slot.

Council member Mohammad Ismail Qasimyar confirmed consultations on nominating a new chief peace negotiator were at the final stage. He would not rule out Salahuddin Rabbani’s appointment to the top position.

According to knowledgeable officials, Gilani is a hot favourite for the slot and Mujaddedi may be dropped because of his old age. Salahuddin Rabbani could be offered some other government position.

In 2010, the government convened a consultative jirga on peace talks with militants. Subsequently, Rabbani was named as the 70-member council’s chairman in October that year.

Since his assassination some six months back, the peace negotiations have considerably slowed down, with the US entering an independent dialogue with the Taliban in Qatar.

mud

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