Ankara In Talks With Kabul, Taliban Over Afghanistan Conference In Turkey - Cavusoglu

ANKARA (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 24th March, 2021) Ankara is negotiating the UN-led conference on Afghanistan that Turkey will host in April with all participants in the longstanding conflict, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Wednesday, commenting on the results of the NATO foreign ministers' meeting in Brussels.

Earlier in March, US State Secretary Antony Blinken sent a letter to Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, saying that Washington proposed holding a UN-facilitated conference with international stakeholders, such as Russia, China, India, Iran and Pakistan, on the Afghan peace process in Turkey.

"We discussed Afghanistan in detail. We want to hold not a conference that is not an alternative to but supplementary to the Doha negotiations. It has not yet been determined which countries will be invited, what the agenda will be.

We are negotiating with the leadership of Afghanistan; there are contacts with the leadership of the Taliban. If possible, we want to hold the meeting before May 1, in April," Cavusoglu told reporters.

The discussions on Afghan reconciliation have been hosted by several platforms, including Doha, where peace talks between Kabul and the Taliban movement began in September 2020 but have so far failed to bear fruit.

Earlier in March, Moscow hosted the so-called extended troika � Russia, China, the United States and Pakistan � as well as Afghan political forces and the Taliban. In the joint statement after the talks, the four major foreign stakeholders urged the Afghan warring sides to reduce violence and immediately engage in discussions on fundamental issues to resolve the conflict.