Kabul, 8 Subh: The Turkish Foreign Minister has announced the postponement of the Istanbul Conference on peace in Afghanistan.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu has said that in consultation with the United States, Qatar and the United Nations, he has decided to hold the Istanbul Conference on peace in Afghanistan after Eid al-Fitr.
According to Anadolu, Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu raised the issue in an interview with Habertürk.
He said in the interview that with the US’ decision to withdraw from NATO’s decisive support mission in Afghanistan, the process of intra-Afghan negotiations and the agreement signed between Washington and the Taliban in Doha last year entered a critical period.
The Turkish foreign minister added that efforts were being made to hold the Istanbul Conference before May 1st.
According to him, the reason was that the United States was supposed to withdraw completely based the agreement with the Taliban on this date, and everyone believed that an agreement would be reached at the Istanbul Conference, but this process was not easy.
Çavuşoğlu added that there is no need to hurry after the US decision to leave Afghanistan.
The Turkish Foreign Minister added: “Postponing the conference will be useful in terms of the formation of the delegation and the preparation process. We consulted with Qatar, the United States and the United Nations. The conference was postponed until after Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr.”
According to him, the Istanbul Conference will be inaugurated by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and will be attended by 21 international organizations as well as two sides from Afghanistan.
The meeting was scheduled to begin on April 24 and continue until May 4.
The reason for the postponement of the Istanbul Conference has not been determined yet, but the Taliban had previously said in response to US President Joe Biden’s recent decision to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan that it would not attend any talks until foreign troops withdrew.
Some time ago, when the time of the Istanbul Conference was not yet known, sources told the 8 Subh that the Taliban wanted to hold the conference after Ramadan.
