ISTANBUL: Following the collapse of earlier talks, Pakistan has agreed to resume talks with the Afghan Taliban on the mediators’ request in Istanbul, Turkiye.
According to sources, Pakistan decided to resume the talks to give peace another chance. The Pakistani team, who were preparing to return home after the collapse of earlier talks, will now extend its stay in Istanbul to continue discussions.
The negotiations will reportedly focus on Pakistan’s core demand that Afghanistan take “clear, verifiable and effective action” against terrorist groups operating from its soil, sources added.
Pakistan Says Talks With Afghan Taliban Ended Without Any Breakthrough
Earlier, Pakistan’s information minister said talks with the Afghan Taliban in Istanbul have ended without “credible assurances,” claiming four days of dialogue, preceded by an initial round in Doha, failed to secure commitments to curb cross-border attacks in Pakistan.
In a statement shared on X, the minister said Islamabad entered the meetings at the request of Qatar and Türkiye with a single point agenda.
Action by the Taliban authorities to prevent Afghan soil from being used as a “training cum logistic base and jump off point” for attacks by Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), groups Pakistan and international organisations designate as terrorist outfits.
Moreover, he said both these banned outfit,s “Fitna al Khwarij (TTP)” and “Fitna al Hindustan (BLA)” receive illegal Indian support to spread the menace of terrorism inside Pakistan.
According to the minister, Pakistan presented “sufficient and irrefutable” evidence that was acknowledged by the Afghan delegation and the hosts, yet Kabul “gave no assurances,” instead “deviating from the core issue” and resorting to “blame game, deflection and ruses.”
He added that after “four long years” of mounting losses, Pakistan’s patience “has run its course.”
Pakistan can obliterate Taliban regime with fraction of its full arsenal: Khawaja Asif
Yesterday, Pakistan Defence Minister Khawaja Asif warned the Afghan Taliban that Pakistan does not require employing even a fraction of its full arsenal to completely obliterate the Taliban regime and push them back to the caves for hiding.
In a post on his X handle, he said Pakistan indulged in talks to give peace a chance on the request of brotherly countries, which were persistently being beseeched by Taliban regime.
The Defence Minister said it is sad to see how the Taliban regime is blindly pushing Afghanistan into yet another conflict, just to retain its usurped rule and maintain the war economy that sustains them.
He said, despite fully knowing their inherent limitations and hollowness of their war cries, they are beating the war drums to maintain their crumbling facade.
Khawaja Asif said the war mongers amongst the Taliban regime, who have vested interests in the continuation of instability in the region, should know that they have probably misread our resolve and courage.
The Defence Minister said if the Taliban regime wants to fight us, the world will see that their threats are only performative circus.
He categorically stated that Pakistan will respond to any terrorist attack or suicide bombing on its soil.
