Afghan Gov't Delegation Postpones Visit To Qatar For Peace Talks With Taliban - Reports

The Afghan government's delegation that was due to travel to Qatar to participate in the intra-Afghan conference has postponed its visit due to issues relating to the conference participant list, local media reported on Thursday, citing sources

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 18th April, 2019) The Afghan government's delegation that was due to travel to Qatar to participate in the intra-Afghan conference has postponed its visit due to issues relating to the conference participant list, local media reported on Thursday, citing sources.

On Tuesday, the Afghan government released a list of 250 people who were expected to participate in the meeting with the Taliban movement in Doha scheduled for April 20-21. The government's delegation was set to depart for Doha on Thursday.

It is still unclear whether the conference will be postponed as well, Afghanistan's TOLONews broadcaster said.

On Wednesday, Taliban's spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, expressed the movement's disagreement with the list of participants to the conference presented by the Afghan government, which included various political and religious figures, journalists, government officials and, for the first time in the history of Afghan peace talks, women.

Afghanistan has long been in a state of turmoil, with the government fighting the Taliban radical movement, which has been holding vast territories in rural areas under its control and regularly launches offensives in key big cities. The situation has been exacerbated by the activities of the Islamic State terrorist group (IS, banned in Russia), which has been operating in Afghanistan since 2015.