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Turkey confirms Istanbul Conference to start on April 24
Turkey’s foreign ministry said on Tuesday the Istanbul Conference will start on April 24 and run through to May 4.
In a statement issued by the ministry, Turkish officials stated Turkey, Qatar and the United Nations will co-convene the conference “between representatives of the islamic Republic of Afghanistan and the Taliban.”
The conference will be hosted by Turkey in Istanbul.
“The overriding objective of the Istanbul Conference on the Afghanistan Peace Process is to accelerate and complement the ongoing intra-Afghan negotiations in Doha on the achievement of a just and durable political settlement,” read the statement.
The ministry also said participation in the conference and its agenda have been the subject of extensive consultations with the Afghan parties.
“The conference will focus on helping the negotiating parties reach a set of shared, foundational principles that reflect and agreed vision for a future Afghanistan, a roadmap to a future political settlement and an end o the conflict.”
The ministry said it “is our expectation that the conference will provide an important opportunity for all partners to reiterate support for the people of Afghanistan on their path toward inclusive peace, stability, and prosperity.”
This comes just hours after Turkey’s Daily Sabah reported that sources from the ministry of foreign affairs said the start of the talks would likely be postponed until later this month.
All indications until now pointed towards talks starting later this week.
However, a Taliban spokesperson said Monday that the group would not attend the peace conference tentatively planned for later this week in Turkey, putting U.S. efforts to set in place a peace plan anytime soon in jeopardy.
A spokesperson for the Taliban's political office Mohammad Naeem said on Monday night that the group would however discuss whether to attend talks if they were set for a later date.
Naeem said attendance at the conference and the Blinken peace proposal were being discussed “and whenever the discussion is completed we will share our final decision.”
Hassan Kazemi Qomi, Iran's ambassador and special representative for Afghanistan met late Thursday with Georgette Gagnon, UNAMA’s deputy special political envoy for Kabul and they stressed the increase of cooperation with Afghanistan, the embassy said in a statement.
In this meeting, Qomi told Gagnon that Iran would support any initiative taken by the international community for Afghanistan.
In the meeting of Georgette Gagnon with Mr. Kazemi, the issue of narcotics and the presence of the private sector in Afghanistan were discussed, and Iran supports any constructive initiative of the international community for Afghanistan,” according to the statement.
Experts, meanwhile, believe the solutions of the United Nations to cooperate with Afghanistan's neighboring countries in consolidating stability and security can solve key issues such as terrorism and immigration.
Some experts consider strengthening Iran's partnership and cooperation with the UN for greater stability in Afghanistan is important and necessary.
However, Iran has not yet recognized the caretaker government of Afghanistan and has repeatedly emphasized the establishment of a comprehensive government in the country.
Over the past three years, Iran has established good relations with the Islamic Emirate, and trade between the two countries has increased.
Meanwhile, Tehran has previously opposed the appointment of a special representative for Afghanistan by the United Nations.
Ten people were killed by unknown individuals in Afghanistan’s northern Baghlan province on Thursday night, police said on Friday.
The incident happened as the victims were doing Zikr at a mosque in Shahr-e-Kuhna of Nahrin district, police said in a statement.
The statement said that they used to regularly go to mosques and monasteries at night after returning from work.
Abdul Ghayoor Khadim, a provincial police official, said that several people were arrested in connection with the incident, adding that an investigation was launched.
Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan Serdar Muhammetdurdiyev on Thursday met with Chinese special envoy for Afghanistan, Yue Xiaoyong, the Foreign Ministry of Turkmenistan announced.
During the meeting, the sides discussed priority vectors of strategic interstate cooperation built on a long-term, mutually beneficial basis, as well as exchanged views on the implementation of previously reached agreements.
It was noted that personal contacts between the leaders of the two countries play a key role in intensifying the interstate dialogue, which give a strong impulse to further development and expansion of Turkmen-Chinese ties.
It was emphasized that Turkmenistan considers multilateral international platforms for maintaining stability in Afghanistan as an important factor in promoting sustainable improvement of socio-economic state of the neighboring country. The sides exchanged views on the preparations to the 5th meeting of Foreign Ministers of Afghanistan's Neighboring States to be held in Turkmenistan.
The interlocutors reaffirmed that Turkmenistan and China will continue to provide all-round support for the economic restoration of Afghanistan.
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