Taliban Shun Afghanistan Talks Until Foreign Forces Go

DOHA, QATAR - The Taliban said on Tuesday they would not attend a summit on Afghanistan's future in Turkey this month until all foreign forces leave their country.

"Until all foreign forces completely withdraw from our homeland, (we) will not participate in any conference that shall make decisions about Afghanistan," tweeted Mohammad Naeem, spokesman for the Taliban office in Qatar. His intervention came just hours after it emerged that the U.S. would withdraw its forces from Afghanistan about five months later than Washington had originally agreed with the insurgents. U.S. officials said President Joe Biden would withdraw all American troops from Afghanistan before this year's 20th anniversary of the September 11 attacks.