Peace Hopes Dashed: Pak-Afghan Talks End Without Agreement

Islamabad (TDI): Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Attaullah Tarar said early Wednesday that the latest round of talks between Islamabad and Kabul in Istanbul had failed to produce a workable solution.

He added that Pakistan would continue to take every necessary measure to protect its citizens from terrorism.

The discussions followed days of fighting along the Pakistan–Afghanistan border and Pakistani strikes on camps linked to the Gul Bahadur group. Earlier talks in Doha had produced a temporary ceasefire and a commitment to reconvene in Istanbul to develop mechanisms aimed at long-term peace and stability. Last week, the second round of negotiations began in Istanbul.

In a post on X, the information minister accused the Afghan Taliban of failing to honour written commitments made in the Doha Agreement and of providing continued support to anti‑Pakistan militants. He said Pakistan had repeatedly engaged the Taliban about what Islamabad calls “persistent cross‑border terrorism,” naming groups the Pakistani state refers to as Fitna‑al‑Khawarij and Fitna‑al‑Hindustan.

Tarar said the Afghan Taliban had been asked repeatedly to stop allowing Afghan territory to be used as a training and logistics base for attacks inside Pakistan. “We came to these talks in the spirit of giving peace a chance,” he said, thanking Qatar and Türkiye for facilitating the dialogue. But, he added, the Afghan side repeatedly strayed from the core issue.

According to Tarar, Pakistan presented “sufficient and irrefutable evidence” that was acknowledged by the Afghan delegation and the mediators, but Kabul gave no concrete assurance of action. “Instead of accepting responsibility, the Afghan Taliban resorted to blame‑shifting and evasion,” he said, concluding that the talks had thus failed to reach a workable outcome.

Defense Minister Khawaja Asif later told a private news channel that negotiators had come close to an agreement multiple times but then backtracked after contacting Kabul. He said that instructions from Afghanistan’s capital scuttled deals “four or five times,” and accused elements in Kabul of being influenced by India. “When negotiators reported to Kabul, there was intervention and the agreement was withdrawn,” Asif said, warning that Pakistan would respond forcefully to any attack.