US-Proposed Afghan Peace Huddle Postponed 

ISLAMABAD - The United Nations said Wednesday a multi-nation conference that the organizers had hoped would “add momentum” to the faltering peace talks between Afghanistan’s warring parties has been postponed.     Turkey, Qatar and the U.N. had planned to convene the 10-day event, proposed by the United States, in Istanbul starting this Saturday.     “In view of recent developments, and after extensive consultations with the parties, it has been agreed to postpone the conference to a later date when conditions for making meaningful progress would be more favorable,” the conveners said in a joint statement. 

Afghan officials had already said they would send their delegation to the conference. Kabul has not immediately commented on the postponement of the event.     Representatives of the Afghan government and the Taliban were supposed to attend the conference and discuss resumption of stalled peace talks between the two adversaries to reach a power-sharing deal that would end the country’s nearly two-decade long war.     The so-called intra-Afghan negotiations have been deadlocked for most of the time since they began last September in Doha, Qatar.  The talks stemmed from a landmark peace-building agreement Washington sealed with the Taliban in February 2020 to withdraw all U.S. troops from Afghanistan to end what has been America’s longest war.  The U.S.-Taliban deal had required all American and NATO-led troops to leave the country by May 1. But President Joe Biden last week announced that the U.S. would withdraw its remaining between 2,500 and 3,500 troops from Afghanistan by September 11, and not by the deadline originally agreed with the insurgents.    Within hours of Biden’s announcement, the Taliban said they would not participate "in any conference that shall make decisions about Afghanistan” until all foreign forces leave their country.