Afghanistan-Pakistan peace talks: Islamabad presents 'evidence-based' demands to end cross-border terrorism

Foreign Office Spokesperson Tahir Hussain Andrabi said that talks with the Afghan Taliban regime commenced in Istanbul on Thursday in the presence and with the participation of mediators.

"The Pakistan delegation has handed over its evidence-based, justified, and logical demands to the mediators with a singular aim to put an end to cross-border terrorism,” Andrabi said while addressing his weekly media briefing here.

"The mediators fully endorsed Pakistan's stance on the basis of evidence provided by our side, as well as the tenets of international law and principles,” he said, adding that the mediators were discussing Pakistan's demands point by point with the Afghan delegation.

Andrabi said any other information being circulated on social media, particularly from Afghan handlers or Afghan accounts, is either pure speculation or deliberate disinformation.

He also said that Pakistan's demand to the Afghan Taliban regime was simple: that it should stop the infiltrators from operating from Afghan soil.

The third round of talks had begun in Istanbul to defuse tension between Islamabad and Kabul that erupted in an open border conflict last month. Earlier, the two sides failed to agree on the contentious issues during the two rounds of talks held on October 19 in Doha and October 25 in Istanbul.

Both sides reported human losses during the clashes from October 11-15, which were brought under control after a temporary ceasefire that was extended and is still holding.

However, as officials from both Pakistan and Afghanistan held talks in Turkiye, their forces traded fire, testing the fragile peace between the two sides.

Thursday witnessed an exchange of fire, for which the two sides blamed each other. The situation, however, was brought under control.

“We strongly reject claims circulated by the Afghan side regarding today’s incident at the Pak-Afghan border at Chaman,” Pakistan’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting said in a statement.

“Firing was initiated from the Afghan side, to which our security forces responded immediately in a measured and responsible manner.

“The situation was brought under control due to responsible action by Pakistani forces and the ceasefire remains intact,” it said.

The ministry also said that Pakistan remains "committed to ongoing dialogue and expects reciprocity from Afghan authorities.” At the talks, Pakistan's delegation is being led by Lt Gen Asim Malik, Director General of the Inter-Services Intelligence and national security advisor, and includes senior officials from the military, intelligence agencies, and the Foreign Office.

The Afghan Taliban’s delegation, meanwhile, includes General Directorate of Intelligence (GDI) chief Abdul Haq Waseq, Deputy Interior Minister Rehmatullah Najib, Taliban spokesperson Suhail Shaheen, Anas Haqqani, Qahar Balkhi, Zakir Jalali and Afghanistan’s chargé d’affaires in Ankara.

Earlier, during the conflict in October, Pakistan claimed that at least 206 Afghan Taliban and 110 Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) operatives were killed, while 23 Pakistani soldiers were killed.

Replying to a question, the FO spokesperson said that Pakistan's armed forces and political leadership “are fully geared to the defence of the country and protect sovereignty and territorial integrity in the wake of Indian aggression.”