 "Pakistan-Taliban peace talks likely to resume soon in Turkey, says source")
A day after Pakistan declared peace talks with Afghanistan’s Taliban a failure, a Pakistani security source has said that the two sides are likely to gather in Turkey soon for another round of discussions.
“On the request of the Afghan Taliban regime, another round of talks between Pakistan and Kabul is likely to take place in Istanbul,” the security source told AFP.
The source added, “Pakistan will attend the talks in good faith, but without compromising its core national security stance.”
As tensions between Pakistan and the Taliban remain high, Turkey and Qatar are mediating the talks between them. The last round of talks ended on Tuesday without any agreement.
Separately, Afghan state-run broadcaster RTA also reported on Thursday that the “stalled negotiations… are set to resume in Istanbul under the mediation of Turkey and Qatar”.
In the worst clashes between Pakistan and the Taliban since the Islamists’ takeover of Afghanistan in 2021, more than 70 people have been killed and hundreds injured. Temporary ceasefires have collapsed as sporadic clashes continue amid an exchange of blame.
These clashes began when Pakistan conducted airstrikes in Afghanistan, including in Kabul, on October 9. The airstrikes triggered several episodes of fighting between the two sides along the disputed border. The Taliban claimed to have destroyed Pakistani border posts and killed dozens of soldiers.
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The indication to resume talks comes a day after Pakistani Defence Minister Khawaja Asif warned the Taliban that Pakistan could “obliterate” them and send them back to the caves they hid in when the United States was hunting their members.
In a separate statement on Wednesday, Pakistan said that talks with the Taliban for a long-term truce had failed as the Taliban wanted war. It blamed the failure of talks on the Taliban’s lack of commitment to curbing cross-border terrorism from their soil.
“Instead of accepting any responsibility, the Afghan Taliban resorted to blame games, deflection and ruses. The dialogue thus failed to bring about any workable solution,” the statement said.
Pakistan further stated that the Taliban were dragging Afghanistan into a “needless war”.
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