Afghan President Ashraf Ghani signed a draft peace agreement with Hezb-e-Islami, led by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, in Kabul on September 29.
According to The New York Times, Hezb-e-Islami agreed to cease hostilities in exchange for government recognition of the group and support for the removal of United Nations and American sanctions against its contentious leader, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar..
The draft agreement does not go into effect until it has been signed by President Ashraf Ghani and by Mr. Hekmatyar, who officials said would come to Kabul to do so in “the coming days.”
Part of the deal is reportedly to arrange for Mr. Hekmatyar to re-establish himself in the capital and join the political process, and the Afghan leadership is promising to give him an “honorary post” in the government. Power-sharing, however, is not part of the agreement, The New York Times said.
Daily Sabah, an English, German and Arabic-language daily published in Turkey, notes that the deal paves the way for Hekmatyar, who heads the now largely dormant Hezb-e-Islami militant group but has been in hiding for years, to make a potential political comeback despite a history of war crimes.
Al Jazeera's reports that the government hopes the peace deal “paves the way for future peace with the Taliban.”
Meanwhile, Timor Sharan, a Kabul-based analyst for the International Crisis Group (ICG), says the current security situation in Afghanistan is unlikely to see much change as a result of the deal. "The deal will have little impact on the dynamics of conflict," Sharan told Reuters.
“The government's rationale is that by luring Hekmatyar on board, other insurgent groups might be encouraged to consider peace too.”
