Since August 2010, the Afghanistan Peace and Reintegration Programme (APRP) has worked to promote peace, reconciliation and security in Afghan communities through outreach, reintegration, and community recovery. During the third quarter (Q3) 2015, APRP continued supporting the Government of Afghanistan’s strategy for peace, reconciliation and reintegration. With the Afghan Government’s focus on high level reconciliation and negotiations, the High Peace Council (HPC) is leading the efforts for creating the conditions for peace and facilitating negotiations and reconciliation. At the sub national level, the PPCs and Provincial Joint Secretariat Teams (PJST) support the peace and reconciliation efforts with peacebuilding and reintegration activities within the communities. The APRP-UNDP Support Project provides support to the JS and overall APRP programme. 

During Q3, the Afghan Government made a historic breakthrough in the peace process with its first formal peace talks with the Taliban and then had a major setback in its relations with Pakistan. The long-pending talks facilitated by the Pakistani Government were held in the resort city of Muree on 07 July 2015. In addition to Afghan delegation led by Senior HPC member Haji Din Mohammad and Taliban delegation led by former Taliban Health Minister, Mula Abbas Akhund, representatives of Pakistan, China and United States were also present in the meeting. Among other important issues, both sides agreed to continue talks and to discuss concrete measures in the next meetings. The involvement of both Chinese and US diplomats in the meeting underlined the international consensus over the need for a political settlement in Afghanistan. China, as well as other regional countries, are concerned about the growing extremism and insecurity that threatens the security and stability of the entire region.