Abdullah Abdullah, the head of the High Council of National Reconciliation, on Monday said that historic steps have been taken for peace and the time has arrived to reduce violence and expedite the process of purposeful peace negotiations talks.

Abdullah, speaking at the opening ceremony of the Zamzam Foundation, a charity created to support war victims, said that the Afghan people expect that the peace negotiation talks will reach a conclusion as soon as possible.

"The talks are underway, the steps which are taken are preliminary and historic steps, but the Afghan people expect these talks to be accelerated and violence to be reduced, because in the view of current circumstances, violence has not only reduced, but it has increased compared to the past," said Abdullah.

Other speakers at the event also called for a swift end to the bloodshed and for support of those affected by the war.

"We decided to lay the foundation of an organization that could help those affected by the dark shadows of the war," said Neelofar Ibrahimi, chairperson of Zamzam Foundation.

At the same event, Abbas Baseer, the nominee for the Ministry of Higher Education, also called for support of the Afghan children who have lost their parents as a result of war.

"We cannot create a stable society with a durable peace if we neglect those who have lost their parents," said Abbas Baseer.

"We cannot change Afghanistan if we do not arm our children with quality education," said Sima Samar, the State Minister on Human Rights Affairs.

This comes a day after delegates from the Afghan republic�s negotiating team said an agreement on the procedural rules of the negotiations might be reached within the next two days.

The peace negotiations between negotiating teams from the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and the Taliban started on September 12; however, so far, direct talks have not started because of disagreements on procedural rules for the negotiations.

The Doha talks officially began one month ago, on September 12. So far, the contact groups of the two sides-smaller groups tasked with discussing procedural rules-have held meetings but have not reached a conclusion.

LINK: https://www.ansarpress.com/english/20803

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