On Saturday, January 2, 2021, the Afghan Institute for Strategic Studies (AISS) held a roundtable discussion on " Assessing the First Round of Peace Talks and its Future Prospects ". Abdul Hafiz Mansoor, member of Afghanistan's negotiating team, and Dr. Hossain Ramouz, university lecturer were the speakers of the program. The event was moderated by Sheila Qayumi, program coordinator at Equality for Peace and Democracy.

Abdul Hafiz Mansour said the peace talks are an opportunity to end the war and violence in the country, and the government will work to achieve that goal. He added that the Taliban mentality has not changed in relation to the past and new values, they want to rule as they did before. But what plan do they have to advance the talks and meet the demands of the people? According to Mansour, the Taliban is not a religious movement but uses religion as a tool to gain power. It is not ready for any religious debate with the delegation of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan as its actions are secular and indefensible. He said the High Council for National Reconciliation should be the main party of peace negotiation programs and the negotiating team should act accordingly. Finally, he said, there is still a difference of opinion between the presidency and the High Council for National Reconciliation, which is detrimental to the peace process and the need is to reach a common view as soon as possible.

In his speech, Dr. Hossein Ramouz said that the version of Sharia introduced by the Emirate will not be a good development model for Afghanistan. He added that the Taliban must abandon totalitarianism and both negotiators must agree on a combination of the republic and the Emirate, but we need to have a clear definition of the Taliban emirate. He said that peace in Afghanistan will solve transnational problems in addition to national challenges. On the contrary, the continuation of the war will complicate the problems in various dimensions. According to him, the main context of the war in Afghanistan is the natural geopolitical conflict and other issues that have prolonged the war in Afghanistan. In the peace process, the interests of outsiders have always been given priority. He added that now is the time for the negotiating team to prioritize peace and help in the development of the nation.