Pakistan’s bid to secure a joint counter-terrorism deal with Afghanistan has collapsed, with Islamabad accusing the Taliban regime of reneging on promises to curb cross-border militancy and harboring anti-Pakistani elements.
What led to the collapse of the talks in Turkiye?
The four-day talks, held in Turkiye and brokered by Ankara, brought together senior officials from Pakistan and Afghanistan in an effort to find common ground on escalating border violence. However, the dialogue ended without consensus.
Pakistan’s Information and Broadcasting Minister Attaullah Tarar confirmed the failure of the talks on Wednesday, saying on social media that “the dialogue has not yielded any workable solution”.
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He added that Pakistan had “long sought cooperation from Kabul against militants targeting that country”, but the Afghan side had “backtracked on its written commitments” under the Doha agreement.
What are Pakistan’s allegations against the Taliban regime?
Tarar said that since the Taliban’s return to power in 2021, Islamabad has repeatedly engaged the regime in curbing the activities of anti-Pakistan groups operating from Afghan soil.
However, he claimed that “Pakistan’s fervent efforts have proved futile due to the Afghan Taliban regime’s unrelenting support to anti-Pakistani terrorists”.
Blaming Kabul for instability, he said the Taliban “bears no responsibility to the people of Afghanistan and benefits from a war economy”, adding that they “desire to drag and entangle the Afghan people in a needless war”.
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“Pakistan has always desired, advocated and sacrificed immensely for peace and prosperity for the people of Afghanistan,” Tarar continued, lamenting that “they have always remained indifferent to Pakistan’s losses.”
He said Islamabad had provided “sufficient and irrefutable evidence” of terrorist activity during the talks – evidence acknowledged by both the Afghan delegation and the host country – but “no guarantees have been provided by the Afghan side”.
“The Afghan side has continuously sidetracked from the core issue and avoided the key point on which the dialogue process was launched. Instead of accepting any responsibility, the Afghan Taliban has resorted to a game of blame, diversion and trickery,” Tarar said.
What was Pakistan’s response to the impasse?
Despite the diplomatic setback, Pakistan reiterated its commitment to protecting its citizens from militant violence. Tarar emphasized that “the security of its people is of paramount importance to Pakistan”.
Defense Minister Khawaja Asif reiterated this stance in an interview with Geo News, revealing that Afghan negotiators repeatedly backed down during the dialogue. “Whenever we were close to an agreement – whether in the last four days or last week – when the negotiators reported to Kabul, there was an intervention and the agreement was called off,” he said.
Asif went further to claim that India had influenced the Afghan side, calling Kabul a “tool for Delhi”.
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Security sources in Pakistan also confirmed that the country would “continue to take all possible measures necessary to protect our people from the threat of terrorism” and pledged to “use all resources necessary to decimate terrorists, their sanctuaries, their supporters and supporters”.
What role did Turkey and Qatar play?
Pakistan thanked its diplomatic partners – especially Qatar and Turkey – for facilitating the talks. “We joined the talks in Doha and later in Istanbul to give peace a chance, we acted at the request of brotherly countries,” Tarar noted, regretting that the Afghan side “did not act in good faith.”
The collapse of the dialogue marks another setback for regional counter-terrorism cooperation as Pakistan grapples with a rise in cross-border attacks it attributes to groups hiding in Afghanistan.
Key things
- The breakdown in talks marks continued tensions between Pakistan and the Taliban over counter-terrorism efforts.
- Pakistan accuses the Taliban of not fulfilling the commitments made under the Doha agreement.
- Cross-border terrorism and lack of cooperation continue to threaten regional stability.
