Sultan Barakat, who is close to the Taliban, announced that the seventh session of the Afghanistan Future Thought Forum (AFTF) concluded on Sunday in Jakarta, the capital city of Indonesia.
According to Barakat, AFTF saw the participation of 30 Afghan men and women and was headed by Fatima Gilani, the former chairperson of the Afghan Red Crescent Society.
Barakat added that the participants discussed current challenges and potential confidence-building measures in Afghanistan.
Barakat did not provide any details about the presence of Taliban representatives at the AFTF meeting, but reliable sources told Afghanistan International that Farooq Azam, the advisor to the Ministry of Water and Energy of the Taliban, had travelled from Kabul to Jakarta to participate in this meeting.
These sources added that this meeting had been held as part of the efforts in line with the "policy of engagement with the Taliban".
Barakat also stressed that "diplomats from Japan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Belgium, Sweden, Canada, Australia, Norway, the European Union, and representatives of the World Bank" met with the participants.
Afghanistan International sources said that Afghan politicians and civil society members, including former Afghan ambassador Omar Samad; lawyer Kawun Kakar; former diplomat Asila Wardak; Kabul University professor Faiz Zaland; former Afghan minister Ehsan Zia; former member of parliament Abdul Qayyum Sajjadi; political activist Jafar Mahdavi; former interior minister Wais Barmak; former parliamentarian Golali Safi; civil society activist Khadija Mahdi, and political activist Ayoub Erfani participated in the meeting.
