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.”