Turkish daily reports Istanbul Conference to be postponed

Turkey’s Daily Sabah has reported that the Afghan peace conference that was scheduled to take place in Istanbul on April 16 is expected to be postponed until April 26.

The Daily Sabah said sources at the Turkish Foreign Ministry confirmed this on Tuesday.

According to the Daily Sabah, the foreign ministry stated in response to a question posed by them about the Taliban’s latest announcement that it would not participate in the talks, that the talks will be delayed and will likely be held on April 26.

A Taliban spokesperson said Monday that the group would not attend a 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.

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.”

According to Turkish officials, the talks were expected to last for 10 days.

Turkish foreign ministry sources also told Daily Sabah that after the Taliban’s announcement on Monday, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu held a phone call with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

Meanwhile, NATO foreign and defense ministers are also expected to hold a video meeting on Wednesday on Ukraine and Afghanistan, chaired by NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg and with U.S. defence and foreign ministers present at the military alliance’s headquarters, two diplomats said.

This latest development comes ahead of the May 1 troop withdrawal deadline – which is less than three weeks away. According to Biden officials, Washington has not yet made a final decision.