SURKH ROD, Afghanistan, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- The chairman of Afghan High Peace Council was buried after a funeral ceremony held here and attended by relatives and high-ranking officials on Monday.
Pir Sayed Ahmad Gailani died from an illness at a hospital in Kabul on Saturday at the age of 85. Gailani was buried in his home town, Surkh Rod district of eastern Nangarhar province.
Earlier on Monday, Afghan President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani paid homage for the late Gailani during a service held in the country's Presidential Palace.
Gailani was also the leader of Mahaz-i-Milli Islami Party, a mujahidin faction, which fought against the troops of former Soviet Union in 1980s.
The Afghan government set up the 70-member High Peace Council and launched the peace and reconciliation process in 2010 to encourage Taliban to disarm and give up militancy against the government.
Since mid-2010, more than 10,000 Taliban militants have laid down arms and joined the government-backed peace process, according to HPC officials, but the claim has been rejected by the armed outfit.
Gailani's predecessor and former Afghan President Burhanuddin Rabbani was killed in a suicide bomb attack in 2011 in Kabul.
