Islamabad: Pakistan and the Afghan Taliban were set to resume peace talks in Istanbul on Thursday, aiming to tackle the issue of cross-border terrorism and avoid further escalation between the two sides.
Clashes broke out between the border troops on October 11, resulting in casualties on both sides. Pakistan claimed that at least 206 Afghan Taliban and 110 Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan operatives were killed, while Pakistan suffered the loss of 23 soldiers. A ceasefire was agreed between the two sides on October 15, which had been extended during the two rounds of talks held on October 19 in Doha and October 25 in Istanbul. The temporary truce is still holding, but mutual acrimony is evident on social media and in the statements of officials from both sides.
The Istanbul talks were heading towards failure, but the situation was saved by Turkiye, and another round was agreed for which officials of the two countries have reached Istanbul.
For the third round, being facilitated jointly by Turkiye and Qatar, Pakistan’s delegation is being led by Lt Gen Asim Malik, director general of the Inter-Services Intelligence and national security advisor, and includes senior officials from the military, intelligence agencies, and the Foreign Office.
The Afghan Taliban’s delegation includes General Directorate of Intelligence (GDI) chief Abdul Haq Waseq, Deputy Interior Minister Rehmatullah Najib, Taliban spokesperson Suhail Shaheen, Anas Haqqani, Qahar Balkhi, Zakir Jalali and Afghanistan’s chargé d’affaires in Ankara. The talks are expected to continue for two days. A joint statement was issued by the Turkish foreign ministry, following the last round of talks, stating that “all parties have agreed on continuation of ceasefire” and “to put in place a monitoring and verification mechanism that will ensure maintenance of peace and impose a penalty on the violating party”.