Pakistan and Afghanistan have agreed to maintain a ceasefire after peace talks in Istanbul, the Turkish Foreign Ministry announced on Thursday. The two sides also agreed to resume discussions after their dialogue broke down earlier in the week.
“Talks between Afghan and Pakistani officials ended in Istanbul after several days of mediation led by Ankara and Doha, with both sides agreeing to continue talks,” Afghan government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid was quoted as saying on Friday by Reuters.
Pakistan and Afghanistan further plan to meet again at a high-level meeting in Istanbul on November 6 to finalize how the ceasefire will be implemented, the Turkish ministry said in a statement issued on behalf of Pakistan, Afghanistan and mediators Turkey and Qatar.
“All parties agreed to establish a monitoring and verification mechanism to ensure the maintenance of peace and impose sanctions on the offending party,” the statement said.
The truce began on October 19.
The latest talks, brokered by Turkey and other friendly nations, were aimed at easing border tensions between Afghanistan and Pakistan, which have seen dozens of soldiers, civilians and militants exchanged fire earlier this month.
Despite the collapse of the previous round of talks, the ceasefire has largely held and no new border clashes have been reported this week, the AP reported.
However, both countries kept the main crossings closed, leaving hundreds of trucks carrying goods and refugees stranded on each side.
“Relationships based on mutual respect”
Afghan government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said his country was committed to resolving disputes through diplomacy.
“Just as the Islamic Emirate seeks good relations with other neighboring countries, it also aspires to positive ties with Pakistan and remains committed to relations based on mutual respect, non-interference in internal affairs and not posing a threat to any party,” he said in a statement.
“Give peace another chance”
Earlier, Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaja Mohammad Asif told Geo news channel that Pakistan had decided to give peace another chance in the latest round of talks at the request of Qatar and Turkey, and that the Pakistani delegation, which was originally scheduled to return home on Wednesday night, had been asked to stay in Istanbul.
According to Pakistan’s state television, Islamabad said the talks would be based on Pakistan’s central demand that Afghanistan take clear, verifiable and effective action against militant groups.
In Islamabad, two senior security officials told the AP that Pakistan had reiterated that Afghan soil should not be used for what it called “terrorism” against Pakistan, and that it appreciated the constructive role of its hosts and remained committed to pursuing a peaceful solution in good faith.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter with the media on the record.
Tensions in Afghanistan and Pakistan
Tensions flared earlier this month after explosions rang out in Kabul and Afghanistan’s Taliban government blamed Pakistan for airstrikes on the capital and bombing of a market in the country’s east.
On 12 October, Afghan officials said they attacked Pakistani military posts in retaliation, claiming 58 Pakistani soldiers were killed.
However, Pakistan’s military said the fighting had left 23 of its soldiers dead and that its operations were targeting militant hideouts inside Afghanistan.
The clashes prompted Qatar to hold emergency talks between the two neighbors, which resulted in a ceasefire on 19 October. Four days of negotiations followed in Istanbul, which ended in a draw on Tuesday. Since then, Qatar and Turkey have been trying to bring the delegations back to the negotiating table, Pakistani officials said.
Pakistan’s army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, told a gathering of tribal elders in Peshawar on Thursday that Pakistan seeks peace with all its neighbors, including Afghanistan, but will not tolerate cross-border terrorism from Afghan soil.
He said Pakistan had behaved with restraint in recent years, taking diplomatic and economic steps to improve relations, but the Taliban government had instead supported the TTP, which the United Nations and the United States listed as a terrorist group more than a decade ago.
Pakistan has seen an increase in militant attacks in recent months, most claimed by the Pakistani Taliban, or Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, a group closely related to the Taliban in Afghanistan. Many of their leaders and fighters are believed to be hiding in Afghanistan since the Taliban return to power in 2021.
Pakistan’s military said on Thursday it had killed 18 militants in two separate operations in the southwestern province of Balochistan. In a separate statement, it said four Pakistani Taliban, including a high-value target, were killed as they tried to slip into Bajaur, a town bordering Afghanistan.
