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News ID: 89489
Publish Date : 23 April 2021 - 21:14

UN Urges Progress in Talks to End Afghan Conflict

NEW YORK (Anadolu) – Amid an array of reactions to the Istanbul Conference postponement, the United Nations has stressed that the warring Afghan factions must demonstrate progress in the current Doha negotiations.
Head of the UN Assistance Mission for Afghanistan Deborah Lyons said she has concluded several days of consultations in Doha with Afghan parties and international partners on the best way forward to strengthen and add impetus to intra-Afghan negotiations.
Lyons, who is also the UN Secretary General’s Special Representative for the war-ravaged country, said there would be no pause in work to support the Afghan negotiations as engagements with both the Afghan government and Taliban representatives continue for a just and durable settlement.
"The UN’s impartiality and ability to convene is at the disposal of Afghans and international actors working for peace, especially regional states,” said UNAMA chief.
The Taliban declined to attend the peace conference in Turkey, demanding withdrawal of all foreign troops by May in line with the Doha Agreement with the U.S.
Meanwhile, during a visit to restive southern Kandahar province on Thursday, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani once again invited the Taliban to negotiations within the country.
"Come and sit with us (for negotiations) in Kandahar, Herat, Helmand, Kabul, Khost wherever you want,” he said, adding that the government is willing to incorporate the Taliban’s demands for amendments in the constitution.
A day earlier, Minister of State for Peace Sayed Saadat Mansour Naderi had told the parliament that the reason for the delay in the Istanbul meeting was the Taliban’s unwillingness to hold the talks. He assured the house that the government was still ready to negotiate and participate in the Istanbul conference at any time.
The much-anticipated conference was called off just days before its scheduled April 24 date.
Turkey, Qatar and the UN had planned to co-host the conference with the participation of Afghan government and Taliban representatives to add momentum to the negotiations that started in Doha last September to achieve a just and lasting peace in Afghanistan.  
However, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on April 20 that an international conference on Afghanistan scheduled for April 24 in Istanbul had been postponed until mid-May.
"We believed it would be useful to postpone” after consultations with Qatar, the United Nations and the United States, Cavusoglu said. "There’s no need to rush.”
The U.S., along with its NATO allies, invaded Afghanistan in October 2001. The invasion — which has led to the longest war in U.S. history — removed the Taliban from power, but the militant group never stopped its attacks.
Washington has spent trillions of dollars waging the war on Afghanistan, which has left thousands of Afghan civilians and American soldiers dead.