IT is, indeed, regrettable that the Istanbul peace talks between Pakistan and Afghanistan collapsed after four days of hectic negotiations mainly because of the stubborn attitude of the Taliban regime, which was not willing to give assurances to reign in terrorists operating from Afghan soil.
Minister for Information and Broadcasting Attaullah Tarar confirmed that the latest round of talks ended without any breakthrough. He added that Pakistan joined the talks in Doha and later Istanbul to give peace a chance, acting on the request of brotherly countries of Qatar and Turkiye.
Peaceful co-existence is always mutually beneficial and this is particularly so in the context of Afghanistan as its people suffered hugely due to decades of destruction and instability but failure of the talks in Istanbul has confirmed, once again, that the Taliban prefer conflict over peace as they gave cold shouldered response to legitimate demands of Pakistan to take verifiable action against militants operating against Pakistan from Afghanistan. The statement of the Minister explains the designs of the Taliban regime, who said Pakistan presented sufficient and irrefutable evidence of terrorist activity, which “was acknowledged by Afghan Taliban and the hosts,” but “regrettably, the Afghan side gave no assurances.” The Afghan side kept deviating from the core issue, evading the key point upon which the dialogue process was initiated. Instead of accepting any responsibility, the Afghan Taliban resorted to a blame game, deflection and ruses. This attitude becomes understandable in the backdrop of growing Indo-Afghan nexus aimed at squeezing Pakistan from both sides. It is strange that those engaged in the dialogue process on behalf of the Afghan Government were convinced of the rationality of Pakistan’s demand and the need to initiate action against terrorist outfits but the Taliban sitting in Kabul apparently acted on India’s behest, which is again hurling threats of war on Pakistan. By keeping the Western front volatile, Afghanistan is effectively facilitating India in fulfillment of its designs against Pakistan. During the Istanbul talks, Pakistan demonstrated its commitment to peace but the Taliban stand exposed before the world community and Islamabad will have absolute justification in taking all measures to secure lives and properties of its people.
