Pakistan criticised the Afghan Taliban regime for taking advantage of the Istanbul talks to speak against Pakistan rather than address Islamabad’s key concern of terrorism originating from Afghanistan.
“Instead of finding solutions to address Pakistan’s core concern, the Afghan regime used the opportunity to malign Pakistan through hypothetical accusations and jingoistic rhetoric,” Tahir Hussain Andrabi, a Foreign Office spokesperson, said in a statement.
The peace dialogue between Pakistan and Afghanistan ended without result, although a truce stays in effect between the neighbouring countries.
On November 7, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif told the private media channel that peace talks between Pakistan and Afghanistan have ended, with “no programme for the fourth round of talks”. “There is a complete deadlock. The negotiations have entered an indefinite phase.”
In his statement, the FO spokesperson Tahir Hussain Andrabi mentioned that anyone after the dialogue conducted under the mediation of Turkiye and Qatar could easily “discern that the Taliban regime was only interested in prolonging the temporary ceasefire, but without taking concrete and verifiable actions against the terrorist elements present on Afghan soil.”
“It prolonged discussions and engaged in futile arguments to stonewall the efforts at reaching any concrete understanding,” the spokesperson added.
The statement issued by the Foreign Office highlighted a spike in terror attacks since the Taliban came into power in August 2021. According to the released statement, Pakistan faced military and civilian casualties but showed great patience to avoid war.
“Pakistan’s expectation was that the Taliban regime would control TTP/FaK and BLA/FaH elements and take concrete actions against them.”
The spokesperson noted that the Taliban response had been majorly limited to “hollow promises and inaction”.
“Instead of acting upon the core expectation from Pakistan i.e. not to allow Afghan territory to be used for attacks against Pakistan, the Taliban regime has always tried to shy away from taking concrete and verifiable actions.
“Instead, it has tried to confuse the main issue with other relatively irrelevant and hypothetical issues. By confusing the main issue of terrorism, it keeps trying to develop a narrative which absolves the Taliban regime of its commitments and responsibilities towards the international community and its own people,” he added.
