Nishtar Hall, Peshawar: To day in this jirga the representatives of all the Tribal Agencies and all the districts of the province are present. Despite the various dangers and unsecure roads members from every sect, belief groups and language are present in this jirga. The presence of a good number of females in this jirga clearly indicates that Pukhtoons have due respect for the role of women in their Jirgas.The presence of minorities (totally a Pakistani terminology) representatives indicates that Pukhtoons have never measured their relations with others on the basis of religion, colour, languages in their 5000 years long history.

Historical Significance.
Pakhtunkhwa, Pashtoonkhwa, or Pakhtoonkhwa means “The Land of the Pakhtuns” or “near the Pakhtuns”. This name was used for the area where Pakhtuns were dominant before the creation and forming of modern day Afghanistan and Pakistan. Historically Pakhtunkhwa the name of the territory or area where the Pashtoons, Pakhtuns or Afghans have lived for a long time, was between the river Oxus from the North and river Indus from the South East, in its North East Himalayan mountain ranges and in the West its boundaries lies with the Russian states.
Greek historian Herodotus has recorded the area as Paktia, but Pakhto poets from the time of Shahabuddin Mohammad Ghori down to the present age, have been referring to it as Pakhtunkwa. The earliest available historical proof is Akhund Darweza's (d. 1638) Makhzanul Islam (written between 1603 and 1612). A verse in this book reads:

Namatullah Karyab
ASADABAD, Afghanistan (AFP) – Afghanistan's second-biggest militant group fighting the government said on Monday it has sent a delegation to Kabul to discuss peace with President Hamid Karzai.

Hezb-e-Islami, one of the biggest anti-Soviet resistance groups during the 1980s, is headed by warlord and former prime minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar.

The US State Department designated Hekmatyar as a terrorist in 2003, accusing him of taking part in and supporting attacks committed by Al-Qaeda and the Taliban. He is also on a UN black list.

Ayesha Siddiqa

Nothing could be clearer than the fact that there is an ever-widening divide in the perception, interests and understanding of the situation amongst the various stakeholders in Afghanistan. The regional states have their eyes on maximising benefits as the US reviews cutting its losses and bailing out of Kabul.
Although American officials explained that the Obama administration is yet to take a final decision regarding withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, it is quite clear that the US and its Nato allies are looking for an exit. This would mean finding some face-saving method for allied forces to withdraw.

Der Spiegel By Peter Neumann
Do Exit Programs for Islamists Actually Work?

It sounds like a promising idea: Instead of confronting the Taliban on the battlefield, why not pay them to give up violence? But such programs have been tried before, and they have one major disadvantage: They tend only to work when the insurgents are already losing.

Germany wants to contribute 50 million to the Taliban "exit" program in Afghanistan. The idea is to undercut support for the insurgency by helping individual Taliban leave their group, de-radicalize and re-integrate into Afghan society. Sounds like a great plan, but how do these programs actually work? And -- more importantly -- are they successful?

By Hamid Shalizi And Abdul Malek
KABUL/LASHKAR GAH (Reuters) – Taliban leaders will decide soon whether to join talks with the Afghan government, a militant spokesman said on Friday, after President Hamid Karzai invited them to a peace council aimed at ending the Afghan war.

In the country's south, suicide attackers launched an assault in the capital of Helmand, Afghanistan's most violent province, with gunmen holed up in three buildings, battling government and NATO troops who returned fire with helicopter strikes.