Afghan High Peace Council

{{update|date=March 2021}}

{{Infobox government agency

| name = Afghan High Peace Council

| native_name = {{langx|prs|رئیس شورای عالی صلح افغانستان}}

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| type = Peace movement

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| formed = {{Start date and age|2010|09|05}}

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| dissolved = 2019

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| jurisdiction = Afghanistan

| status = dissolved

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| minister_type = Ministry of Foreign Affairs

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The Afghanistan High Peace Council (HPC) ({{langx|prs|رئیس شورای عالی صلح افغانستان}}) was a body of the Afghanistan Peace and Reintegration Program, established by Hamid Karzai to negotiate with elements of the Taliban.{{cite news

|url=http://articles.cnn.com/2011-07-16/world/afghanistan.un.sanctions.taliban_1_taliban-leaders-afghan-government-high-peace-council?_s=PM:WORLD

|title=14 ex-Taliban members removed from U.N. sanctions

|publisher=CNN

|author=David Ariosto

|date=2011-07-16

|url-status=dead

|access-date=2012-01-06

|archive-date=2011-07-28

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110728185509/http://articles.cnn.com/2011-07-16/world/afghanistan.un.sanctions.taliban_1_taliban-leaders-afghan-government-high-peace-council?_s=PM%3AWORLD

}}

{{cite web

| url = http://www.afghan-bios.info/index.php?option=com_afghanbios&id=686&task=view&total=2411&start=842&Itemid=2

| title = High Peace and Reconciliation Council

| publisher = High Peace and Reconciliation Council

| date = 2011-12-28

| accessdate = 2012-01-06

}}

{{cite news

|url=http://www.pajhwok.com/en/2010/09/29/peace-council-members-named

|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130104072416/http://www.pajhwok.com/en/2010/09/29/peace-council-members-named

|url-status=dead

|archive-date=2013-01-04

|title=Peace council members named

|work=Pajhwok Afghan News

|author=Abdul Qadir Siddique

|date=2010-09-29

|accessdate=2012-01-06

}}

The HPC was established on 5 September 2010. The last chairman of the council was former Afghan Vice-President Karim Khalili who was appointed to the post in June 2017.

{{cite news

| url = https://www.pajhwok.com/en/2017/06/06/khalili-appointed-chairman-hpc

| title = Khalili appointed chairman of HPC

| work = Pajhwok Afghan News

| author = Javed Hamim Kakar

| date = 2017-06-06

}}The council was initially chaired by former President of Afghanistan Burhanuddin Rabbani until his assassination in 2011.

In September 2011 Haji Deen Muhammed expressed outrage over the killing of Sabar Lal Melma.

{{cite news

| url = https://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/05/world/asia/05insurgent.html?pagewanted=all

| title = Anger After a Raid Kills a Wealthy Afghan With a Murky Past

| work=The New York Times

| author = Ray Riviera

| date = 2011-09-04

| accessdate = 2011-09-04

| archivedate = 2011-09-07

| archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20110907085827/http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/05/world/asia/05insurgent.html?pagewanted=all

| url-status = live

| quote = His death has angered members of the Afghanistan High Peace Council, who are responsible for reconciliation efforts with militants. Council members say that just days earlier they had won a promise from coalition forces to stop bothering Mr. Lal after they had detained him last month. NATO officials insist they had not detained him.

}}

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.[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-17712058 Murdered Afghan talks head Rabbani replaced by son] BBC News, 14 April 2012 He held the position until 2015.