The foreign ministers of Turkey, Afghanistan and Pakistan held tripartite talks in Istanbul, Turkey, on April 23, local time. Following the meeting, the three parties issued a joint statement calling on all parties, in particular the Afghan Taliban, to reaffirm their commitment to a negotiated peace settlement in Afghanistan.
The joint statement reaffirmed the tripartite commitment to a peaceful, sovereign, independent, democratic and united Afghanistan and believed that lasting peace in Afghanistan could be achieved only through a broad and inclusive political process “Afghan-led and Afghan-owned”. The statement stressed that the three parties support the peace process in Afghanistan and the ongoing Afghan peace talks in Doha in order to reach a just and lasting political solution. The statement also acknowledged the efforts of Turkey, Qatar and the United Nations to convene the Istanbul Conference on the “Afghan Peace Process”.
Turkey had previously announced that a high-level meeting on the “Afghan peace process” would be held in Istanbul from 24 April to 3 May, but the meeting was postponed until after the end of Ramadan in the region because of the Taliban’s refusal to attend, but no specific timetable has been announced.
Afghan Taliban spokesman Mohammad Naeem said on April 13th that the Taliban would not attend any meetings on Afghanistan’s decision unless all troops were completely withdrawn from the country. U.S. President Joe Biden announced Thursday that U.S. troops in Afghanistan will be withdrawn from the country by September 11 this year. But under the 2020 U.S.-Taliban peace agreement between former U.S. President Donald Trump and the Taliban, the U.S. should have completed its full withdrawal by May 1, 2021.
