AS was widely feared, the peace talks between Pakistan and Afghanistan, hosted by Turkiye and Qatar in Istanbul, have ended without any breakthrough because of the stubborn attitude of the Kabul regime over the issue of cross-border terrorism. According to Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif, talks are “over” and have “entered an indefinite phase” as negotiators failed to bridge deep differences between the two sides, adding that the ceasefire stands for the time being. Minister for Information and Broadcasting Attaullah Tarar has accused the Afghan Taliban government of failing to fulfill its international, regional and bilateral obligations, including those made under the Doha Peace Agreement of 2021.
The collapse of the talks means resumption of active hostilities any time as the Taliban are unwilling to take any action against TTP elements involved in terrorist activities in Pakistan and instead are acting as facilitator for them. Despite ceasefire, which was agreed on the understanding that the Taliban will not allow use of Afghan soil for anti-Pakistan activities, continuation of such attacks even when the peace talks were underway confirmed duplicity of the Taliban and their intent not to respect commitments. The talks have deadlocked but involvement of two brotherly countries exposed designs of the Taliban as they have now firsthand knowledge of Kabul’s support for terrorism against Pakistan. As pointed out by the Information Minister, Pakistan’s concerns were rooted in security and sovereignty, not hostility and that Islamabad’s expectations from Kabul were aligned with international commitments. The remarks of the Defence Minister explain the reason behind failure of the talks – the Afghan Taliban delegation again came to Istanbul “without any programme” and that they were not willing to sign a written agreement. “They said that they would only respect the verbal agreement, but there is no room to do that.” This shows they indirectly acknowledge legitimacy of Pakistan’s concerns but are not ready to offer written guarantees as they have no intention to honour them. Despite the negative attitude demonstrated by the Taliban Government throughout, credit must be given to Pakistan for declaring that it will honour the ceasefire as long as it is not violated by the other side.
