Afghan prominent political figures on Saturday gathered in Kabul to discuss the participation of all the country’s political factions in the ongoing peace process.

The meeting was held at the residence of Mohammad Mohaqiq, the second deputy of Chief Executive Abdullah Abullah, brought together several key politicians, including former President Hamid Karzai, former Vice President Mohammad Younus Qanooni, and the head of the High Peace Council (HPC), Mohammad Karim Khalili, TOLO News reported.

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Abdullah said while speaking on the occasion that no one should strive to obstruct the peace process for his personal agenda and should instead work on creating a consensus on the issue.

“It’s better to involve all,” said Abdullah, adding to that no one should be allowed to exploit the process for their own personal agenda.

Addressing to the gathering, Qanooni said that the Afghan politicians have prepared a peace plan that can help end the decades-long conflict in the country.

“The plan, which is intended to be an outline by the Afghan politicians, is a plan for the Afghan people who seek to achieve peace,” he added.

The meeting came a few days after President Ashraf Ghani, on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, accused Karzai and Abdullah of having no plan for peace in Afghanistan.

Last year, in September, Zalmay Khalilzad, Washington’s Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation had said that the US and Taliban are “at the threshold of an agreement” that would reduce violence and open the door for Afghans to sit together and negotiate.

On December 19, Khalilzad also said that the US and Taliban were approaching an important stage in the Afghan peace process.

In August, peace talks between Washington and the Taliban had to reach a deal on the withdrawal of thousands of American troops collapsed after President Trump cited an attack that killed a US soldier as his reason for pulling out of negotiations. The talks did not include the Afghan government.

The Taliban had never agreed to end their violent campaign against Afghan and foreign forces while negotiations were taking place. Sixteen US troops have been killed this year.

In 2001, US-led forces overthrew the Taliban government in Afghanistan because the militants had given safe haven to the Al-Qaeda network to plan the attacks on the US on September 11.

According to the statistics from the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, 2018 was the deadliest year on record for the Afghan conflict, with a total of 10,993 civilian casualties, including 3,804 civilian deaths.

(With inputs from agency)