Talks with Taliban for long-term truce have failed, they want needless war, says Pakistan

Pakistan on Wednesday said that talks with Afghanistan’s Taliban for a long-term truce have failed.

Pakistan and Taliban held talks in Istanbul for three days that ended on Tuesday without any agreement. These talks were mediated by Qatar and Turkey.

In a statement, Pakistani information minister Attaullah Tarar said that talks in Istanbul “failed to bring about any workable solution”.

Tarar blamed the failure of talks on Taliban’s lack of commitment to check cross-border terrorism on its soil. He also blamed India and alleged that the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) —the armed group based in Afghanistan that often launches cross-border attacks— was abetted by India.

While Pakistan has repeatedly engaged with the Taliban regarding cross-border attacks from its soil, the Taliban have continued their “unabated support to anti-Pakistan terrorists”, said Tarar.

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Separately, a Pakistani security source told Reuters that the Taliban had been unwilling to commit to rein in the TTP, a distinct Islamist armed group that operates from Afghanistan and launches frequent cross-border attacks.

On their part, an Afghan source familiar with the matter told the news agency that talks had ended after “tense exchanges” over the issue of TTP. The source added that the Afghan delegation said the Taliban had no control over the TTP.

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Earlier this month, Pakistan and Taliban had their worst clashes since the Islamists took over Kabul in 2021. Dozens were killed and hundreds were injured in several rounds of fighting that saw cross-border attacks, shelling, and airstrikes. Both the sides have accused the other of breaking temporary ceasefires.

‘Pakistan’s patience is over, Taliban wants needless war’

After dubbing talks in Istanbul as a failure, Tarar said that Taliban wanted a “needless” war and Pakistan’s patience was over.

Tarar said, “Since the Taliban regime bears no responsibility towards the people of Afghanistan and thrives on war economy, it desires to drag and mire Afghan people into a needless war.”

Tarar further said that while Pakistan held several rounds of talks and desired and advocated for peace and prosperity for the people of Afghanistan, the Taliban have “always remained indifferent to Pakistan’s losses”. He added that Pakistan’s patience was over.

As for the talks, Tarar said that Pakistan provided “sufficient and irrefutable evidence” to Taliban and hosts about terrorists, but the Taliban refused to give any assurances. He said the Taliban kept deviating from the “core issue” of security and kept evading the key point upon which their talks had begun.

“Instead of accepting any responsibility, the Afghan Taliban resorted to blame game, deflection and ruses. The dialogue thus failed to bring about any workable solution,” said Tarar.

The statement came after Pakistani Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said that an agreement was about to be reached with the Taliban but the Afghan delegation backpedaled after getting instructions from Kabul. He said negotiations were sabotaged.

Asif told Geo News, “Whenever we got close to an agreement —either in the last four days or last week— when negotiators reported to Kabul, then there was intervention and the agreement was withdrawn. I believe that the negotiations were sabotaged. We had an agreement, but then they called Kabul and backpedaled from the deal.”

Asif went on to add that the Taliban was being “controlled by Delhi”.