After conducting research in five main Afghan provinces – Kabul, Badakhshan, Nangarhar, Balkh, Herat – the group found that women have not been involved in the decision-making processes of the High Peace Council at the provincial and their role is only representative.
"Women were always sidelined in the decision-making process of the Afghan High Peace Council, which a major point of concern," head of the Human Rights Defenders research group Jamila Omar said Thursday.
Omar also said the talks were not transparent and the negotiations being made to bring the insurgents to the table were not being done secretly or without the women being involved.
"The Taliban do not want women to be involved in the negotiations but the international community and the social activists want that, so the government has given women a role but only a symbolic one in the council," human rights expert Reza Hussaini told TOLOnews.
The group called for the negotiations to cease until there is clarity that they will benefit Afghan women.
