Afghan High Peace Council

The Afghanistan High Peace Council (HPC) is a body of the Afghanistan Peace and Reintegration Program, appointed by Hamid Karzai to negotiate with elements of the Taliban. The HPC was established on 5 September 2010. The current chairman of the council is Ahmed Gailani who was appointed to the post in 2016.

The Council was initially chaired by former President of Afghanistan Burhanuddin Rabbani until his assassination in 2011. The membership of the peace council included some former members of the Taliban, including: Arsalan Rahmani Daulat, Habibullah Fawzi, Sayeedur Rahman Haqani and Faqir Mohammad. Other members of the council include: Pir Sayed Ahmad Gailani, Abdul Rab Rasul Sayyaf.

In September 2011 Haji Deen Muhammed expressed outrage over the killing of Sabar Lal Melma. Sabar had been apprehended and sent to Guantanamo in 2002, based on allegations he helped facilitate Osama bin Laden's escape from Afghanistan. He was repatriated in 2007. But American special forces kept taking him captive. According to Deen Muhammed the Peace Council had secured assurance that Americans would stop harassing Sabar. Nevertheless, Sabar was killed by US special forces, in his home, during a night raid, just two days after the Peace Council received assurances that harassment of him would stop.

In mid-April 2012, Burhanuddin Rabbani's son Salahuddin Rabbani was appointed chairman of the Council. He held the position until 2015.

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