ISTANBUL – The talks between delegations from Pakistan and Afghanistan resumed here yesterday with former repeating its demand to rein in terrorist groups operating from Afghan soil against Pakistan. In an earlier development, Islamabad submitted its reply to the Taliban regime’s response to its counterterrorism plan.
Turkish intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin is mediating the second round of the Istanbul talks, which began hours after the Pakistani delegation responded to the Taliban delegation’s submission of a reply to their suggestions. According to officials, in the first phase of the talks in Istanbul on Saturday last, Pakistan submitted a counterterrorism plan to the Afghan Taliban in an effort to address cross-border terrorism emanating from the Afghan soil.
Meanwhile, Islamabad continues to raise its concerns over the Taliban regime acting as an Indian proxy against it. Pakistan also made it clear that it would not tolerate the Afghan Taliban’s continued support or sheltering of terrorist elements.
Speaking to media in Sialkot on Saturday last, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif had said that India was fighting a proxy war using the Afghan Taliban.
He warned of an “all-out war” with the Afghan Taliban regime in case the peace talks failed.
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump said that he would quickly resolve the Pakistan-Afghanistan conflict, praising Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Field Marshal Asim Munir as great people.
Trump made the remarks while addressing the signing ceremony of a Thailand-Cambodia peace deal on the sidelines of the ASEAN Summit in Kuala Lumpur.
Referring to recent border tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan, Trump said he was confident of helping the two sides reach peace.
“… we’re averaging one a month. There is only one left, although I heard that Pakistan and Afghanistan have started up. But I’ll get that solved very quickly. I know them both. And the Field Marshal, and the Prime Minister are great people, and I have no doubt we’re going to get that done quickly.”
The US president further said he viewed peacebuilding as a priority. “If I can take time and save millions of lives, that’s really a great thing,” he remarked, adding that, unlike other presidents, he focused on ending wars rather than starting them.
“I can’t think of any president who ever solved one war. They start wars. They don’t solve them,” he added.
Tensions along the Pak-Afghan border escalated on October 12, when clashes erupted after the Afghan Taliban regime opened unprovoked fire at multiple locations in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, prompting a swift and forceful response from the Pakistan Army, which destroyed several Afghan posts and killed dozens of Afghan soldiers and militants.
The coordinated assault originated across several key sectors, including Angoor Adda, Bajaur, Kurram, Dir, Chitral in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, and Baramcha in Balochistan. The firing, security sources said, was aimed at facilitating the illegal entry of Khwarij — the state-designated term for the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) — into Pakistani territory.
“The Pakistan Army responded immediately and decisively,” security sources said. “The counteroffensive effectively targeted and destroyed multiple Afghan posts on the border. Dozens of Afghan soldiers and Khwarij were killed in retaliatory fire”.
