Pakistan and Afghanistan failed to achieve any breakthrough in a third round of talks in Istanbul on Monday, with sources claiming the Afghan Taliban regime is continuing to resist Pakistan’s counter-terrorism demands.
According to local media, the session devolved into disagreements, with Pakistan insisting that Kabul commit to preventing the use of its soil for terrorism in writing, while the Taliban delegation was only willing to commit to verbal assurances. Some sources have said one of the “friendly” countries acting as mediators were pushing for Pakistan to accept the Taliban’s stance, while the other said Islamabad’s demands were reasonable and legitimate. There were also indications that the Afghan negotiators themselves believed it was right to accept Islamabad’s counterterrorism demands, but were constrained by instructions from Kandahar and Kabul.
The deadlock threatens to lead to total collapse in talks, which Defense Minister Khawaja Asif earlier warned would lead to “all-out war.”
Throughout the talks, per media, Islamabad maintained its principled stance of calling for the Taliban regime to end its patronage of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants, who are actively carrying out cross-border attacks from Afghanistan.
During the current round of talks, Pakistan’s armed forces foiled two infiltration attempts from Afghanistan, killing 25 terrorists. This was raised during the discussions as an indication of the lack of sincerity from the Taliban regime.