Turkish intelligence chief visits Pakistan after Taliban talks

Turkiye’s intelligence chief traveled to Pakistan after holding talks with senior Taliban officials in Afghanistan, as Ankara renewed efforts to help ease persistent tensions between Islamabad and the Taliban.

Ibrahim Kalin, head of Turkiye’s National Intelligence Organization, met Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir and Inter-Services Intelligence chief Asim Malik in Islamabad, according to Turkiye’s state-run Anadolu Agency, citing Turkish security sources.

The meetings included discussions on Afghanistan and regional security. Turkiye said it would continue efforts to help resolve tensions between Pakistan and the Taliban through dialogue.

Kalin’s trip to Islamabad followed meetings in Kabul and Kandahar with senior Taliban officials, including their deputy chief minister Abdul Ghani Baradar, intelligence chief Abdul Haq Wasiq, defense minister Mohammad Yaqoob Mujahid and their interior minister Sirajuddin Haqqani.

Sources told Amu TV on Wednesday that a previously planned meeting between Kalin and Taliban leader Hibatullah Akhundzada was canceled at the last minute. Kalin instead met Taliban governor for Kandahar, Mullah Shirin Akhund, who is a close aide to Akundzada, at the Omar Mosque in Kandahar, according to the sources.

Amu TV previously reported, citing a Taliban official and a source close to the Taliban, that tensions between the Taliban and Pakistan were a key focus of the Turkish and Qatari delegation’s visit to Afghanistan and that the officials had traveled there at Pakistan’s request.

Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry said Turkiye and Qatar have previously played a “very constructive role” in mediating between Islamabad and the Taliban but said those efforts have not produced the assurances Pakistan is seeking from Kabul.

“Despite the efforts of regional countries and the positive endeavours of these friendly countries to bring some kind of stability, the Afghan reaction has been negative,” Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesperson Sajjad Haider Khan said Wednesday. He said the Taliban had refused to provide assurances that militant activity from Afghanistan’s territory against Pakistan would stop.

Khan said Pakistan remains committed to resolving its disputes through dialogue and diplomacy but reiterated Islamabad’s position that cross-border militant activity must end.

“We have clearly mentioned our red line, and now it is for Afghanistan to see how it can stop terrorism,” Khan said.

Taliban authorities have repeatedly rejected Pakistan’s accusations that they allow Afghanistan’s territory to be used for attacks against neighboring countries.

Shafiqullah Saighani, a political affairs analyst, said Kalin’s consecutive visits to Afghanistan and Pakistan indicated an effort to convey Pakistan’s security concerns to Taliban officials and then report the outcome of those discussions to Islamabad.

Asadullah Nadim, a military affairs analyst, said Turkiye’s close relations with both Taliban and Pakistan could give Ankara a role in efforts to reduce tensions between the two sides.

Turkiye and Qatar previously mediated between Pakistan and the Taliban after clashes between the two sides in October 2025. Subsequent negotiations were held in Istanbul but failed to produce a lasting agreement.

Tensions later escalated again, with Pakistan carrying out airstrikes inside Afghanistan. Islamabad has linked its disputes with the Taliban to the presence of Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, and other militants it says operate from Afghanistan’s territory, an issue the Taliban deny.