Afghanistan

The Taliban announced on Tuesday that they would not attend the Istanbul Conference if the group's demands and considerations were not accepted.

Iran PressAsia: While the Afghan government willing to dispatch a high-ranking delegation to the session, the Taliban has said that it would take part in no meeting until foreign troops leave Afghanistan by May 2021 in line with the Doha agreement.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said as long as foreign forces are present in Afghanistan, the group will not attend any meeting, including the Istanbul meeting.

He said some countries want to interfere in Afghanistan's internal affairs through the Istanbul Conference.

Mujahid stressed that it is the right of the Afghan people to determine the future of their country alone.

He suggested that the Taliban will endorse peace only if all parties in Afghanistan accept a true Islamic establishment, otherwise, it will continue to fight.

The Afghan parliament on Monday urged regional countries with clout over the Taliban to convince the group to attend the forthcoming Istanbul conference for peace in Afghanistan.

The Turkish government had scheduled the international conference from April 24 - May 4.

A much-anticipated Istanbul conference for Afghan peace was postponed until the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, Turkey’s foreign minister said on Tuesday. 

"We thought that it would be beneficial to postpone it ... we consulted Qatar, the US, and the UN, and decided to hold it after Ramadan and Eid festivities," Mevlut Cavusoglu told Haberturk news channel in a televised interview.

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