Pakistan is set to resume talks with Afghan Taliban representatives in Istanbul today in a third round of engagement aimed at ending cross-border terrorism and consolidating a fragile ceasefire that was initially agreed upon after border clashes last month.
Since the skirmishes between October 11 and 15, Pakistan and Afghan Taliban representatives have held two rounds of talks — first in Doha and then in Istanbul — but a final agreement has not yet been achieved.
For the third round, under the joint mediation of Turkiye and Qatar, delegations from both sides arrived in Istanbul on Wednesday. The talks are expected to continue for two days.
In this round, Pakistan’s delegation is being led by Lt Gen Asim Malik, director general of the Inter-Services Intelligence, and includes senior officials from the military, intelligence agencies, and the Foreign Office.
The Afghan Taliban’s delegation, meanwhile, includes General Directorate of Intelligence (GDI) chief Abdul Haq Waseq, Deputy Interior Minister Rehmatullah Najib, Taliban spokesperson Suhail Shaheen, Anas Haqqani, Qahar Balkhi, Zakir Jalali and Afghanistan’s chargé d’affaires in Ankara.
Focus of the talks
A joint statement was released by the Turkish foreign ministry following the last round of talks between the two sides. It said that “all parties have agreed on continuation of ceasefire” and “to put in place a monitoring and verification mechanism that will ensure maintenance of peace and impose a penalty on the violating party”.
The communique further stated that “the principals” from both sides would reconvene in Istanbul on November 6 to discuss implementation.
Earlier, a diplomat from one of the mediating countries said while speaking to media on the condition of anonymity that the two sides will review the implementation of the commitments reached during the previous round of talks and attempt to finalise the modalities for the monitoring and verification mechanism agreed in principle last week.
Meanwhile, officials in both Islamabad and Kabul have kept expectations low about the upcoming dialogue.
Pakistani military and intelligence officials have stated that Islamabad’s position remains unchanged, that Afghan soil must not be used for terrorism against Pakistan — a longstanding demand of Islamabad.
“The Pakistan military and intelligence service have a single-point agenda — the end of terrorism,” military spokesman Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said earlier this week.
Another security official, speaking on anonymity, said while speaking to media that Islamabad seeks “concrete, verifiable guarantees”.
From borders clashes to talks
Talks between Pakistan and the Afghan Taliban follow weeks of shuttle diplomacy after deadly border clashes last month plunged relations between the two neighbours to their lowest point since the Taliban seized power in Kabul in 2021.
The hostilities began when an attack was launched on Pakistan from Afghanistan on the night of October 11. The attack had followed an allegation from the Taliban of airstrikes by Pakistan into Afghanistan — an accusation which Islamabad has neither confirmed nor denied.
For its part, Islamabad has long demanded that Taliban stop terror groups from using its soil against Pakistan. Taliban, however, deny the allegation of allowing terrorists to operate from Afghan soil.
Meanwhile, Pakistan continues to grapple with the issue of terrorism and has suffered multiple casualties among security forces in intelligence-based operations.
After the initial skirmish on Oct 11, multiple others took place along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. Meanwhile, strikes by Islamabad also targeted Gul Bahadur group camps in Afghanistan.
A ceasefire was then agreed upon on Oct 15 in the evening, and eventually, the two sides came together for dialogue in Doha. After the Doha talks, a temporary ceasefire continued to prevent border hostilities while the two sides committed to reconvene in Istanbul to work on mechanisms for lasting peace and stability between the two countries.
On Oct 25, the second round of talks between the two sides began in the Turkish capital. But, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar announced in a post on X on Oct 29 that the talks “failed to bring about any workable solution”. He also asserted that Pakistan would continue to take all possible measures to protect its citizens from terrorism.
The information minister had said that Pakistan had repeatedly engaged with the Afghan Taliban regarding “persistent cross-border terrorism” by India-abetted“ terrorists.
“The Afghan Taliban regime has been asked time and again to fulfil their written commitments to Pakistan and to the international community in the Doha Agreement. However, Pakistan’s fervent efforts proved futile due to the Afghan Taliban regime’s unabated support to anti-Pakistan terrorists,” Tarar had stated.
However, mediators Turkiye and Qatar intervened and managed to salvage the dialogue process, with an Oct 31 joint statement released by Turkiye stating that “further modalities of the implementation will be discussed and decided” during a principal-level meeting in Istanbul on November 6 (today).
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