Turkey to host Afghan peace talks in April

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Friday that Turkey plans to hold an Afghan peace conference in Istanbul in April.

This comes after the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said in a letter to President Ashraf Ghani, that a meeting facilitated by the UN will be hosted in Turkey to discuss the Afghan peace process.

The Afghan government and the Taliban representatives, and foreign countries will participate in the summit.

“We will do this (meeting) in coordination with brotherly Qatar,” said Cavusoglu quoted by the Turkish state-run news agency Anadolu.

Cavusoglu stated: “We were one of the few countries invited to this signing ceremony, and we are one of the most important actors in Afghanistan.”

He added that Turkey is trusted by both parties in the talks.

The Turkish Foreign Minister also stated that Turkey would also appoint a special envoy for Afghanistan to contribute to the process.

Meanwhile, President Ashraf Ghani hosted a meeting Thursday of high-ranking Afghan officials and other influential individuals in order to formulate a comprehensive plan for the upcoming peace summit in Turkey, aimed at securing national consensus to strengthen the government’s position in the talks.

“The meeting focused on the general security situation, strengthening the national consensus, and the continuation of consultative meetings,” said Dawa Khan Menapal, the deputy presidential spokesman.

However, a number of political figures who attended the meeting said it was more focused on creating a single plan for the Ankara summit which is expected to be held on March 27.

“The atmosphere at the meeting was such that all political leaders and even government leaders called for peace, called for an immediate end to the war, and decided to work on a peace plan to reach a conclusion at the Ankara summit soon,” said Satar Murad, a close ally of Atta Noor.