Days after facing flak from European and Afghan leaders for a non-functional High Council for National Reconciliation (HCNR), the Afghan government is to convene the first meeting of the Council in the next few days, TOLOnews reported. 

Following the consultation with the government and the country’s political leaders, we have finalized the leadership committee for HCNR and the council will convene its first meeting in the next few days, said Mujiburrahmana Rahimi, the spokesperson of HCNR. 

Earlier a prominent Afghan leader, Ismail Khan, also criticized the Afghan government over the delay in appointing members in the reconciliation council. He alleged the government is stopping the formation of the council for domestic political reasons. 

The council which has been formed to provide direction to the republic negotiating team remained nonfunctional due to differences between Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and Chairman of HCNR Dr. Abduallal Abdullah over the selection of members. 

Earlier President Ghani had announced a list of members which was subsequently rejected by the chairman of HCNR, Dr. Abdullah Abdullah. It was the council’s right to appoint its members, Abdullah said at that time rejecting the appointments made by Ghani. 

President Ghani had to face apparent rebuff from former President Hamid Karzai who resigned from the council almost immediately after Ghani announced his inclusion in the list.