The newspaper said Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi raised concerns with his Pakistani counterpart, Ishaq Dar, during a meeting in Kabul on 20 August. Sources cited by the paper suggested the Taliban regime was displeased that Afghan opposition members had been invited by the Islamabad-based South Asian Strategic Stability Institute, leading to the delay.
The report added that Muttaqi also voiced his opposition to the meeting on the sidelines of a recent trilateral meeting between the foreign ministers of the Taliban, China and Pakistan, also held in Kabul.
Earlier, two sources told Afghanistan International that the delay was linked to visa issuance problems for participants. One attendee, however, said the meeting was now expected to take place in Pakistan in the final week of September.
According to information obtained by Afghanistan International, invitees to the gathering include Nasir Ahmad Andisha, Afghanistan’s representative in Geneva; Mustafa Mastoor, former economy minister; Fawzia Koofi, women’s rights activist and former MP; Habib-ur-Rahman Hekmatyar; Hossein Yasa, spokesperson of the National Resistance Council for the Salvation of Afghanistan; Zahra Joya, founder of Rukhshana Media; and Mawlawi Abdullah Qarluq, former governor of Takhar.
The conference has already been postponed three times. Initially scheduled for 25–26 June, it was pushed back to 25–26 July, then to 25–26 August, before being postponed again.