It was reported that the Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu held a phone call with his Afghan counterpart. According to a diplomatic source who spoke on the condition of anonymity, the two top diplomats discussed the Afghan peace process.
On April 20, the Turkish Foreign Ministry announced that the anticipated conference of the Afghan peace process was postponed. The meeting was originally scheduled to be held between April 24 – May 4 in Istanbul.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry declared its continuous support for the Afghan peace process and stated that it maintains contacts with Afghan parties as well as the United Nations and Qatar.
Following the postponement announcement, some reports claiming that the conference was postponed since news of the Taliban refusing to attend the peace conference in Turkey started to be circulated in international media outlets.
Previously, the Taliban stated that they refuse to be involved in any talks unless foreign troops in Afghanistan completely withdraw from the country by May, as agreed in the Doha Agreement signed with the US.
On April 13, US President Joe Biden announced that the complete withdrawal of US troops in the country would be completed by September 11. In this direction, the first batch of US troops has recently left the country.
