Delegates at a peace assembly in Kabul aimed at bringing an end to Afghanistan's decades of war were likely Friday to recommend ways to start peace talks with the Taliban, DPA reported.
While no decisions were finalized on the last day of the three-day assembly, several prominent delegates at the so-called peace jirga said the participants - more than 1,600 men and women representing people across the country - reached a consensus that negotiation was the only way to end war in the Central Asian country.
"It seems that we finally have found a way in this national jirga to open negotiations with the opposition groups," delegate Mullah Tarakhel Mohammadi said.
Taliban militants, who boycotted the jirga, attacked the meeting with rockets and suicide bombers Wednesday shortly after it opened. The attacks failed to stop the jirga but sent a clear message that the militants were not interested in peace talks.
However, Maulawi Arsala Rahmai, a former senior Taliban leader who represents people from the eastern province of Paktia, said the militants might accept the outcome of the jirga. He said the delegates called for the removal of Taliban members from a UN terrorist blacklist and the release of Taliban prisoners as a goodwill gesture.
"When they [the Taliban] hearing the new ideas, there will be a change of thinking," Rahmai predicted.
The jirga was due to end Friday with jirga chairman Burhanuddin Rabbani expected to read a final declaration, which is non-binding. A closing speech by President Hamid Karzai was also scheduled.