'Islamabad will be bombed if...': Tensions soar as Afghanistan warns Pakistan after failed Istanbul talks

Pakistani Defence Minister Khawaja Asif, center right, and Afghan Defence Minister Mullah Muhammad Yaqoob sign a ceasefire agreement in Doha, Qatar, Sunday, October 19, 2025.(Qatar Ministry of Foreign Affairs via AP)

The Taliban accused Pakistan of deliberately wrecking the Istanbul talks and issued a stark warning: any future attack on Kabul will be met with a direct, reciprocal strike, and if Afghan territory is bombed “Islamabad will be targeted,” security sources told TOLOnews.

According to participants, the negotiations broke down after Islamabad pressed the Taliban to guarantee Pakistan’s security, effectively demanding that Kabul accept responsibility for policing militants the Pakistanis say operate from Afghan soil -- a demand the Afghan side treated as a pretext for sabotage. The Afghan delegation says it remained committed to meaningful diplomacy while accusing Pakistan’s team of bad faith and obstruction, leaving the talks deadlocked and Pakistan exposed as the aggressor in a crisis of its own making.

The breakdown follows weeks of deadly cross border exchanges that have already disrupted trade and displaced civilians along the Durand Line. International mediators from Turkey and Qatar convened the Istanbul round after a Doha-brokered ceasefire, but the meeting ended in mutual recrimination. Pakistani negotiators reportedly insisted that Kabul accept Islamabad’s right to strike Afghan soil when militant groups stage attacks into Pakistan. Afghan sources said that demand effectively ended trust in the room.

ALSO READ: Pakistan-Taliban talks in Turkey deadlocked as Islamabad holds 'final position': What went wrong and why it matters

Analysts say Islamabad’s posture reflects a pattern of coercive diplomacy that substitutes military pressure for genuine counterterror cooperation. Moneycontrol’s reporting on the talks and broader tensions notes that Pakistan has pushed hardline demands in Turkey and that delegation positions have hardened rather than moved toward compromise. That posture, critics say, undercuts any credible effort to stabilise the border and risks provoking further retaliation.

For Kabul, the stakes are high. Afghan officials and security sources see Pakistan’s insistence on unilateral strike rights as an erosion of Afghan sovereignty. The blunt warning that Islamabad itself would be targeted if Afghan territory is attacked signals a new phase in which Kabul is prepared to reciprocate kinetic action rather than rely only on diplomacy. That raises the prospect of a dangerous escalation along a 2,600-kilometre frontier already scarred by years of insurgency and mistrust.

Regional actors and mediators now face a narrowing window to prevent spillover. Observers warn that Pakistan’s insistence on military guarantees rather than constructive counterterror measures risks isolating Islamabad diplomatically and invites deeper instability. If the talks do not resume with genuine concessions, Afghan complaints that Pakistan “sabotaged” the Istanbul process may prove to be only the first public sign of a larger breakdown in regional security.