Taliban not to attend Istanbul summit if US doesn’t change policy
Amin Alemi
Press TV, Kabul
Taliban insists that it will not attend Istanbul summit on Afghan unless there is a change in the timeline for the withdrawal of US forces from the country.
This comes as experts here think that pressure pressures by some regional countries like Pakistan may finally change the Taliban’s stance. They argue that since Pakistan enjoys some high influence among Taliban members, it is expected that Islamabad can convince the militants not to boycott the Turkey summit.
While the Taliban insists on boycotting the Turkey summit, Afghan government backed by political parties seem ready to attend the summit slated for April 24. They say the ball is now in Taliban’s court and it must choose to respect worldwide peace demand or wage a further war.
Based on US-Taliban deal that was singed in Doha last year, all US forces must leave Afghanistan by May first. Now, with postponing troops withdrawal by the US, Taliban has warned about the consequences of further violence in Afghanistan.
The US, along with its NATO allies, invaded Afghanistan in October 2001. The invasion which has led to the longest war in US 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.
Many here also suspect that the Taliban’s refusal to attend the Turkish summit will most possibly lead the country to a bloody civil war. In such a scenario, millions of Afghans would turn into refugees across the world that could be a big headache for some host countries and international bodies that work for immigrants and asylum seekers.
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