Assalamualaikum - Pakistan presents evidence-based requests to mediators during Istanbul talks with Afghanistan
Assalamualaikum - Pakistan has shared a set of evidence-based requests with mediators from Qatar and Turkiye during peace talks in Istanbul, the Pakistani foreign office said on Friday. Islamabad is urging Kabul to take clear action against militant groups accused of carrying out cross-border attacks.
Talks between Pakistan and Afghanistan resumed in Istanbul on Thursday to work out details of the Oct. 19 ceasefire agreed in Doha, after both sides had accused each other of not fully cooperating. The countries fought intensely last month following Pakistani airstrikes in Afghanistan on targets Islamabad said were linked to Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan. Pakistan says militant groups are being sheltered across the border; Afghanistan denies this.
During the latest talks there were again clashes along the border, though calm was restored quickly and both sides said the ceasefire still held. That violence, however, could complicate the ceasefire negotiations being held in Turkiye.
"Yesterday our talks with the Afghan Taliban regime began in Istanbul with the mediators present," Tahir Andrabi, a Pakistani foreign office spokesperson, said at a weekly briefing in Islamabad. "The Pakistan delegation has handed over its evidence-based, justified and logical demands to the mediators with the single aim of ending cross-border terrorism."
Andrabi added that the mediators "fully endorsed" Pakistan’s position based on the evidence presented and on international law and principles. He said the mediators are discussing Pakistan’s demands with the Afghan delegation point by point. There was no immediate response from the Afghan side to the Pakistani statement.
At the end of last week’s talks, Turkiye said the parties had agreed to set up a monitoring and verification mechanism to help keep the peace and hold violators accountable.
The United Nations says about 50 civilians were killed and 447 wounded on the Afghan side during a week of clashes in October; at least five people died in explosions in Kabul. Pakistan’s army reported 23 soldiers killed and 29 wounded, without giving figures for civilian casualties.
Tensions have risen in recent years after an increase in militant attacks, mainly blamed on the TTP since 2021. Pakistani officials consider the group linked to the Afghan Taliban, though they are separate. Islamabad also accuses Afghanistan’s authorities of receiving support from India, while the Taliban government insists on respect for Afghanistan’s territorial sovereignty.
May Allah grant peace and guide both sides to a just, lasting solution.
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