Lahore: Donald Trump, who has claimed to have ended eight wars in eight months, recently vowed to resolve the latest conflict — between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
But that may not happen as swiftly as the US President hopes for.
Peace talks between Pakistan and Afghanistan leaders, which were being held in Istanbul, have collapsed, according to media reports from state media of both countries.
According to a source, Afghan’s Taliban regime assured cooperation, but Pakistan sought written guarantees and security mechanism.
The Taliban leadership told Qatari and Turkish mediators that the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) is Pakistan’s internal security issue, News18 reported.
“The Afghan Taliban refused to accept what it called Pakistan’s illogical and irrational demands. They maintained that Afghan soil was not being used for any terror activity,” sources said, quoting the Taliban.
Taliban had another demand — that Pakistan should not allow US drones to enter Afghanistan from its airspace. This was not accepted.
“A clear divide was observed between the two factions of the Afghan Taliban regime, the ‘Kabul Group’ and the ‘Kandahar Group’, during the negotiations in Turkiye. The Afghan Taliban delegation was in continuous contact with Kabul and Kandahar,” sources elaborated.
Afghan state media RTA said its negotiators made every effort to hold constructive talks, but Pakistan camp accused the Taliban of showing “stubbornness” and a “lack of seriousness”.
After three rounds of deliberations failed to yield any result, Pakistan Defence minister Khawaja Asif’s comments that Islamabad may have “no choice but to engage in open conflict” if dialogue fails resurfaced.
Clashes erupted after Pakistan reportedly launched cross-border airstrikes in Kabul on October 9, targeting TTP camps. Pakistan has accused the Taliban of harbouring TTP militants, responsible for killing hundreds of Pakistani soldiers since 2021.
The Taliban responded with a major counteroffensive, killing 58 Pakistani soldiers and destroying 20 security outposts over the weekend. Hostilities were paused briefly after Afghanistan and Pakistan agreed to a ceasefire on October 19. But the conflict has since then resumed.
