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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.”
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Karzai blames Pakistan’s policies for its security challenges, urges EU to consider regional realities
Former Afghan President Hamid Karzai has said that Pakistan’s current security situation and ongoing challenges are the result of Islamabad’s long-standing policy of supporting “extremism” and using it as an instrument of foreign policy against Afghanistan over the past four decades.
In a statement posted on his X account on Tuesday, Karzai said Afghanistan is among the few countries in the region that has maintained friendly relations with European states for more than a century and has consistently engaged in constructive cooperation with European institutions.
He expressed hope that Kaja Kallas, the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Vice-President of the European Commission, would take into account what he described as the “objective realities” of the region, including the claim that Afghanistan and its people have been
victims of terrorism originating from Pakistan, when assessing the root causes of regional instability that have led to civilian casualties and damage to public infrastructure in Afghanistan.
Karzai added that Afghans appreciate continued European cooperation and seek to further strengthen and expand relations with Europe.
The remarks came after Kaja Kallas, during a joint press conference with Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar in Islamabad on Monday, said that recent clashes between Pakistan and Afghanistan have had serious humanitarian consequences and pose risks to regional security.
Minister of Economy Din Mohammad Hanif and Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) Acting Country Director Robert Anzikowa have discussed ongoing humanitarian assistance and support for internally displaced persons (IDPs) and returnees in Afghanistan.
According to the Ministry of Economy, the meeting focused on the challenges facing displaced communities, the status of current aid programs, emergency assistance for vulnerable people, and humanitarian needs across the country.
Anzikowa reaffirmed the NRC’s commitment to continuing its humanitarian operations in Afghanistan, including legal assistance, education, livelihood support, food security programs, emergency aid for IDPs and returnees, job creation initiatives for youth, and shelter assistance for returning refugees.
Despite budget cuts this year, he said the organization plans to continue implementing programs for returnees and vulnerable communities in various provinces and will seek to mobilize greater support from international donors for humanitarian efforts in Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, Hanif welcomed the NRC’s continued assistance and called for increased international engagement in development projects, job creation, the lifting of sanctions, and the release of Afghanistan’s frozen foreign assets.
He said expanding employment opportunities, vocational training, and support for vulnerable groups would help strengthen household economies and reduce reliance on humanitarian aid.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) on Tuesday warned that a growing funding shortfall is putting life-saving humanitarian assistance in Afghanistan at risk.
In a post on X, OCHA Afghanistan said that by the end of May, humanitarian agencies had received only about 16 percent of the funding required for the country’s 2026 humanitarian response plan.
According to the agency, donors have so far provided approximately $269 million of the $1.71 billion needed to support humanitarian operations across Afghanistan this year.
OCHA warned that without urgent additional funding, millions of vulnerable Afghans could be left without assistance.
Afghanistan remains one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises, with millions of people relying on aid amid ongoing economic challenges, climate-related shocks and widespread poverty.
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