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Decision to postpone Istanbul conference on Afghanistan not surprising — senior diplomat

The positions of the Taliban movement and the government, the High Peace Council and separate political figures do not coincide, the envoy said

MOSCOW, April 20. /TASS/. The decision to postpone the conference on Afghanistan in Istanbul is predictable, as the sides have not agreed on a common agenda, Russia’s Special Presidential Envoy for Afghanistan Zamir Kabulov told TASS on Tuesday.

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"This is predictable, to be honest, because we see that so far, the positions of the Taliban movement [banned in Russia - TASS] and the wider Kabul side, that includes the government, the High Peace Council and separate political figures, do not coincide. In these conditions, without some shared agenda, holding such an event would make no sense, of course," he said.

Kabulov added that Russia had received an official invitation to take part in the Istanbul conference.

A conference on peaceful regulation in Afghanistan was planned to be held in Istanbul from April 24 to May 4. Representatives of Afghanistan and the Taliban were invited to take part in the conference, along with representatives of over 20 states and international organizations. For its part, the Taliban refused to take part in the meeting until all foreign armed forces leave the country. Mohammad Naim, spokesman for political office of the Taliban in Qatar, said that the Taliban demands that Washington pull out its troops from Afghanistan by May 1, 2021, a commitment undertaken within the Doha Agreement a year ago.

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