KABUL – A senior HPC member said the council was “cautiously optimistic”about the Taliban joining the peace process.

Addressing lawmakers on Saturday, a senior member of the High Peace Council(HPC) said the Taliban is “somehow ready for talks” and that theinstitution is “cautiously” optimistic.

“Inner pressure, as well as internal, regional and foreign support willfinally push the Taliban to say yes to intra-Afghan talks,” the head of theHPC secretariat Akram Khpulwak told MPs in the Wolesi Jirga, the LowerHouse of Parliament, on Saturday.

“As per our information, discussions are ongoing among them (Taliban) andprobably there might be some problems, but we are hopeful (about thisprocess),” he said.

He said a big session of world religious scholars will be held in the nearfuture. These scholars will declare the insurgent’s war illegal.

“Religious scholars from across the world, at an organizational and unionlevel, will announce that no war is legal against Afghanistan(government),” Khpulwak added.

The Wolesi Jirga session heard only the information provided by the HPCofficials and MPs did not ask questions.

“The country is on fire. They should sit and talk at least once withrepresentatives of the people,” Saleh Saljoqi, an MP, said.