Pakistan ‘resumes’ talks with Afghan Taliban on Turkiye’s request

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has agreed to extend talks with the Afghan Taliban in Istanbul after the request from mediator Turkiye, following the last round between the neighboring countries failed to reach any consensus.

According to the sources, the Pakistani delegation, which was prepared to depart following the failure of earlier talks, will now remain in Istanbul to resume the negotiations.

The talks will be based on Pakistan’s central demand that Afghanistan take “clear, verifiable, and effective action against terrorists,” sources added. Pakistan has once again stressed that Afghan soil should not be used for terrorism against Pakistan.

Earlier on Wednesday morning, Minister for Information and Broadcasting Attaullah Tarar had confirmed that the four-day talks in Istanbul with the Afghan Taliban had ended without a breakthrough, despite Pakistan repeatedly presenting evidence-backed counterterrorism demands.

“The dialogue thus failed to bring about any workable solution,” Tarar wrote on X. He further said Pakistan had long sought cooperation from Kabul against militants targeting the country.

In another statement from the Defence Minister Khawaja Asif, issued a day earlier, he warned that Pakistan would indeed conduct airstrikes deep inside Afghanistan if terrorists use its soil against Pakistan.

In a post on X, Asif said Pakistan engaged in talks at the request of brotherly countries in an effort to give peace a chance, but “venomous statements by certain Afghan officials clearly reflect the devious and splintered mindset of the Taliban regime.”

“Let me assure them 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. If they wish so, the repeat of the scenes of their rout at Tora Bora with their tails between their legs would surely be a spectacle to watch for the people of the region,” the defence czar stated.