The important process in Afghanistan has finally begun. Today, more than 30 Afghan leaders will hold a meeting in Bonn, Germany for talks to begin to work out the future of Afghanistan’s government after the Taliban. The United Nations has sponsored a forum between major Afghan leaders aimed at hashing out the plans for the immediate future in that country.

Delegates from various groups within Afghanistan are heading to the quiet Petersberg Castle overlooking the Rhine in Germany with modest expectations.

The UN provided a tentative list of 28 official delegates.

Representatives include the Northern Alliance interior minister, Yunus Qanuni; Jalalabad governor, Haji Abdul Qadir; and the grandson of deposed Afghan king Zahir Shah.

The groups represent Northern Alliance leaders as well as leaders from exiled groups outside of Afghanistan.

There are also three women included in the list.

According to the Washington Post, the United Nations hopes that the talks will produce an “interim government and a security mechanism.”

In addition to the Afghan delegates, the Washington Post reports that representatives of the the European Union will be involved in the process.

The road to a peaceful transition government will not certainly be an easy one. Afghanistan has been ravaged with war for 23 years and is a political climate lacking a majority voice.

The people of Afghanistan are an ethnically and religiously diverse group with often different interests and long histories of conflict. But despite this, that should be no reason to give up.

Already, critics are downplaying the importance of the talks. Some say nothing will come out of the talks except arguments and more tension within the groups attending the meeting.

However, simply starting the talks is a fundamental first step to bringing peace and security to a nation with years of war and poverty in its history.

As a nation, we must encourage a multilateral conference of leaders, including representatives from the groups of Afghanistan.

We must foster a just and secure interim government into existence. What the United States wants, as well as what the rest of the world wants, is a stable government that fosters a living environment where human rights are a top priority and terrorists don’t have a safe haven.

And these talks are the first step in opening the dialogue of communication.

A beginning to the process – be it modest initially – is critical.

editorialboard: Andrea Hauser, Tim Paluch, Michelle Kann, Zach Calef, Omar Tesdell