Postponement of Istanbul conference sets back efforts to achieve peace in Afghanistan

ISTANBUL, April 21 (Xinhua) -- A 10-day peace conference on Afghanistan has been postponed due to Taliban's refusal to attend, casting a shadow over the international efforts to achieve a political settlement in the war-torn Asian country.

Turkey, Qatar and the United Nations had planned to convene the conference in Turkey's largest city Istanbul from April 24 to May 4, attended by the representatives from both the Afghan government and Taliban.

Days before the conference, U.S. President Joe Biden announced a complete withdrawal of all American troops from Afghanistan by Sept. 11, the 20th anniversary of the terror attacks on New York and Washington that prompted the U.S.-led military invasion against the Asian country.

However, the Taliban, demanding the withdrawal of foreign troops before May in line with the Doha agreement reached last year, said it would not attend any peace conference before the complete U.S. pullout from Afghanistan.

On Wednesday, the Turkish Foreign Ministry announced in a written statement that the conference was postponed to a later date when "conditions for making meaningful progress would be more favorable."

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told the Turkish media on Tuesday that the meeting was postponed until after the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan in mid-May.

"The conference would be meaningless without the Taliban joining. At the moment, we decided to postpone it since there is no clarity about the formation of the delegations and participation," he said.

Turkish diplomats were working around the clock to promote the Istanbul conference, but the refusal by the Taliban has shadowed the efforts to achieve peace in Afghanistan, experts said.

"The absence of the Taliban would have a very adverse effect on the result of the talks," Merve Seren, an assistant professor of international relations at the Ankara-based Yildirim Beyazit University, told Xinhua.

"It would be frankly naive to expect a tangible result in Istanbul in the absence of the Taliban, which is the essential group to be convinced for the conclusion of a peace agreement in Afghanistan," Seren said.

"The Taliban is seeking to buy time by not participating in the peace talks," argued Seren, noting that the Taliban boycott will make the Kabul government's efforts to seek a peaceful settlement "more visible and meaningful."

A Turkish diplomatic source told Xinhua that Turkey, which had asserted considerable efforts among the parties involved to make the Istanbul conference a success, deplored the Taliban's move.

"We will try to organize these talks in the near future because Afghanistan needs peace. That is the most important factor that has to be prioritized," the source said on condition of anonymity.

He noted that Pakistan, which wields important influence over the Taliban, had also sought to convince the Taliban of the importance of attending the peace conference in Istanbul.

Seren added that "the Taliban will not be a party to the reconciliation unless there is substantial international pressure on it."

If "unity is not established in Afghanistan quickly, it is highly likely that a civil war could break out in the country," Seren warned.