Taliban set conditions for attending Istanbul Conference

The Taliban has said it will attend the peace conference in Turkey on three conditions; the conference must be short, the agenda must not include decision-making on critical issues and the Taliban delegation should be low level.

A senior Taliban leader, who spoke on condition of anonymity said, “Our leadership has proposed that the Istanbul meeting should not be longer than three days.”

The Istanbul Conference, designed to give momentum to stalled Doha peace talks, was proposed by the US in April and was expected to be held in early May. However, the conference failed to materialize as the Taliban refused to attend.