Pakistan has postponed the Afghan Peace Conference, which was programmed from July 17-19, stated Foreign Office Spokesperson Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri.

“The Afghan Peace Conference scheduled to be held in Islamabad from 17-19 July 2021 has been postponed until after Eid Al-Adha […] the new dates of the conference will be announced later,” he added.

The progress comes after Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani asked Prime Minister Imran Khan to “cancel” the conference, stated sources

President Ghani had himself wished for a conference to be held in Islamabad with an Afghan government assignment as well as a Taliban delegation in presence.

Earlier today, delegation-level talks between Pakistan and Afghanistan on Friday were held on the sidelines of the “Central and South Asia 2021: Regional Connectivity: Challenges and Opportunities” Conference in Tashkent.

Whereas, the Pakistani delegation was headed by Prime Minister Imran Khan and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani led his delegation in the talks. Director-General Inter-Services Intelligence (DG-ISI) Lieutenant General Faiz was also present in the talks.

The current situation of Afghanistan came under discussion between both leaders. Speaking on the occasion, the premier expressed disappointment over the allegations against Pakistan from Afghan President Ashraf Ghani.

Sources have also quoted that Pakistan wanted to know firsthand about the difficulties that the Taliban and other parties of the war-torn country have.

On the contrary, Pakistan has invited legislatures from the Afghanistan government, former Afghan president Hamid Karzai, Abdullah Abdullah, who leads the High Council for National Reconciliation, and other senior leaders of the country.

He went on to say that two days earlier, however, the Afghan government excused themselves from the meeting, while Karzai and Abdullah had neither accepted nor precluded the invitation.