Istanbul meeting seeks Taliban’s commitment to peace talks
THE foreign ministers of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Turkey called on the Afghan Taliban last Friday (23) to reaffirm its commitment to achieving a negotiated settlement for lasting peace.
In a joint statement issued after talks in Istanbul, the three ministers underlined “the urgent need for an immediate ceasefire” to end the violence and “provide a conducive atmosphere” for peace talks.
A US-backed Afghan peace conference to be hosted in Istanbul by Turkey, Qatar and the United Nations last Saturday (24) was postponed over the Taliban’s non-participation.
Ankara said the talks will be held after Ramadan, but no new date has been set. The foreign ministers of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Turkey last Friday discussed the planned conference, aimed at fast-tracking an agreement between the Afghan government and the Taliban following Washington’s announcement that foreign troops will leave Afghanistan by September 11.
The ministers “called on all parties, in particular the Taliban, to reaffirm their commitment for achieving an inclusive negotiated settlement leading to lasting peace in Afghanistan desired by the Afghan people, the region and the international community”, according to the joint statement.
The ministers also “deplored the continuing high level of violence in Afghanistan.”
At a joint news conference after the talks, Turkish foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Ankara’s support for the Afghan peace process and efforts to organise the conference in Istanbul would continue.
“As the co-organisers, we
are continuing talks on this with all sides,” he said, alongside Pakistani foreign minister Shan Mahmood Qureshi. Afghan foreign minister Hanif Atmar joined the meeting via video link for health reasons, Cavusoglu said.
The Taliban had refused to attend any summits until all foreign forces were pulled out of Afghanistan. The Taliban and the US last year agreed that all foreign forces would be withdrawn from Afghanistan by May 1, a date that was pushed back last week by US president Joe Biden.
The Islamist Taliban ruled Afghanistan
from 1996 to 2001, when they were ousted by US-led forces. Since then, they have
waged a long-running insurgency and still control wide swathes of territory in Afghanistan.