Information Minister Ataullah Tarar on Friday emphasized that Islamabad will continue to exercise all necessary options to safeguard the security of its people and its sovereignty, as the latest round of talks between Pakistan and Afghanistan collapsed with no further progress.
“Pakistan is thankful to brotherly countries of Turkiye and Qatar for mediation of talks; onus lies on Afghanistan to fulfill its long standing international/regional and bilateral pledges, regarding control of terrorism in which so far they have failed,” read Tarar’s statement on X.
Stressing that Pakistan harbors no ill-will against the Afghan people, he said Islamabad would never support any measures of the Afghan Taliban regime that prove detrimental to the interest of Afghan people and its neighboring countries.
“Pakistan shall continue to exercise all options necessary to safeguard the security of its people and its sovereignty,” he added.
Defense Minister Khawaja Asif, appearing on Geo News, confirmed that talks had ended with no progress, adding there are no plans for another round of dialogue. “There is a complete deadlock. The negotiations have entered an indefinite phase,” he said, while thanking Turkiye and Qatar for their efforts to mediate tensions.
“They [Qatar and Turkiye] support our stance. Even the Afghan delegation agreed with us; however, they were not ready to sign a written agreement,” he said. “They wanted verbal assurances to be accepted, which is not possible in international negotiations,” he added.
He said the mediators appeared to have “given up on Kabul,” or they would have urged Pakistan to remain in Istanbul for further talks. “Our only demand is that Afghanistan must ensure its soil is not used for attacks on Pakistan,” he said, warning that the country would respond if provoked but would maintain the ceasefire so long as there is no aggression.
Pakistan’s delegation was led by Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Director General Lt. Gen. Asim Malik and included senior military, intelligence and Foreign Office officials. General Directorate of Intelligence (GDI) chief Abdul Haq Waseq led the Afghan Taliban delegation, which included Suhail Shaheen, Anas Haqqani and Deputy Interior Minister Rehmatullah Najib.
The third round of talks between Pakistan and the Afghan Taliban regime commenced in Istanbul on Thursday, as part of efforts to de-escalate tensions after last month’s deadly border clashes.