Heart of Asia Conference on Afghanistan Kicks Off in Dushanbe

ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN - A regional ministerial conference called the Heart of Asia-Istanbul Process (HoA-IP) started Monday in Tajikistan’s capital Dushanbe to try to advance the goal of ending the decades long conflict in Afghanistan.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, who arrived early Monday to attend the annual conference, also met his Tajik counterpart Emomali Rahmon on the sidelines. The meeting is just the latest in a flurry of diplomatic efforts to jumpstart a peace process that has been stalled for months. The gathering is taking place as a May 1 deadline, negotiated separately between the United States and Taliban, to withdraw all foreign forces from Afghanistan, looms. President Joe Biden told reporters in his first press conference last week that it was “going to be hard to meet the May 1 deadline."