Kabul | Pakistan

The Foreign Office (FO) said on Friday that the current ceasefire with Afghanistan was not a “traditional” one but contingent on whether any terrorist activity took place against Pakistan from the neighbouring country’s soil. Relations between Pakistan and the Afghan Taliban are at their lowest point in the four years since the group came to power. Border crossings bet­ween the two countries have remained closed since October 11 and trade has been at a standstill following ground fighting and Pakistani airstrikes across their 2,600-kilometre frontier that killed dozens on both sides in the worst fighting since the Taliban’s 2021 takeover of Kabul. Following those clashes, Turkiye and Qatar stepped in to mediate. The first round in Doha produced a fragile ceasefire, while the second, also in Doha, ended with only a general agreement to develop a mechanism for verifying compliance and a decision to continue talks. The third round concluded without any concrete agreement. The situation deteriorated again followi...

• FO says Islamabad understands ‘economic pain’ caused by closures but security threat ‘existential’ • Can’t let ‘our people be killed indiscriminately’ • Scheduling of planned Turkish delegation’s visit in connection with Pak-Afghan conflict still awaited ISLAMABAD: The Foreign Office (FO) on Friday said that the resumption of trade with Afghanistan depended on the Taliban regime ending cross-border terrorism, and also linked the fate of key regional energy projects to Kabul halting its support for terrorist groups. “The onus of delay in the reopening of the border crossings rests with the Afghan Taliban regime,” Foreign Office (FO) spokesperson Tahir Hussain Andrabi said at a weekly media briefing. Pakistan and Afghanistan’s bilateral trade, estimated at $1.6 billion to $1.8bn in 2023-24, with key border gateways like Torkham and Chaman handling most of the traffic, has been suspended since mid-October, following deadly clashes between Pakistani forces and Taliban fighters. This suspension is estimated to b...

Defence Minister Khawaja Asif on Tuesday said Pakistan was in a “state of war” after at least 12 people were killed and 36 were injured on Tuesday in a suicide blast in the federal capital, adding that it was futile to hope for any positive outcome of talks with Kabul after the incident. The incident occurred as international events were being hosted in the capital, including the Inter-Parliamentary Speakers’ Conference and the 6th Margalla Dialogue, while a cricket match between the Greenshirts and Sri Lanka was also being held in Pindi. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif blamed the incident on terrorists “active with Indian support”. The incident comes following a breakdown in negotiations with the Afghan Taliban government. “We are in a state of war. Anyone who thinks that the Pakistan Army is fighting this war in the Afghan-Pakistan border region and the remote areas of Balochistan should take today’s suicide attack at the Islamabad district courts as a wake-up call: this is a war for all of Pakistan, in which...

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Tuesday that Kabul must understand that lasting peace could only be achieved by reining in terrorist groups operating from Afghan soil. “Afghanistan must understand that lasting peace can only be realised by reining in Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan and other terrorist groups operating from Afghan territory,” Shehbaz said while addressing the Inter-Parliamentary Speakers’ Conference in Islamabad. In his remarks, the premier said that the theme of the conference, “Peace, Security and Development”, could not be more timely and relevant. He added that the theme was particularly resonant for Pakistan, saying that the country had always advocated for peace through dialogue and diplomacy. “We firmly believe that peace and security form the foundation of sustainable national and regional development,” he said. “The true value of peace is most profoundly understood when we are confronted with the conflicts that continue to plague our world,” he said. The premier especially called att...

Pakistan’s security is solely the responsibility of its armed forces and no such guarantee will be extended to Kabul, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said while briefing senior journalists.

Information Minister Attaullah Tarar on Sunday said that with the establishment of a joint monitoring and verification mechanism, the onus would be on Kabul to take action against terrorists using Afghan soil. A second round of discussions between Pakistani and Afghan Taliban delegations had began in Istanbul on October 25, following days of border hostilities, but Islamabad’s long-standing concern over terror attacks emanating from Kabul remained a major point of contention, resulting in a stalemate. A breakthrough came after Turkiye and Qatar salvaged the dialogue process for the second time in less than a week, following Pakistan’s announcement on Oct 29 that the talks had “failed” and that its negotiators were preparing to return home. The talks produced a three-point understanding — the continuation of the ceasefire, the establishment of a monitoring and verification mechanism to ensure peace, and penalties for violations. The operational details of that mechanism are expected to be finalised when the “p...

• Islamabad says ceasefire with western neighbour not ‘open-ended’; any breach will trigger ‘all options’ • Foreign Office insists Istanbul statement a ‘preface’, not full text of accord • Says Taliban privately acknowledge TTP, BLA presence in Afghanistan • Khawaja Asif hints at multi-nation monitors, says ‘terrorism must stop’ ISLAMABAD: Islamabad on Friday viewed the Istanbul agreement with Kabul as a conditional truce and a step forward, but not an end-state as it awaited the next high-level engagement with the Afghan Taliban regime scheduled for Nov 6 in Turkiye. “Afghanistan should understand that this arrangement is a conditional truce, one which hinges on demonstrable responsibility by the Afghan side,” a senior security source said on condition of anonymity, underscoring Pakistan’s cautious optimism after five days of intense talks in Istanbul mediated by Turkiye and Qatar. The round of negotiations, which concluded earlier this week, produced a three-point understanding — the continuation of the cea...

Defence Minister Khawaja Asif on Thursday said talks between Pakistan and Afghanistan on cross-border terrorism could resume if Kabul signalled a shift in its attitude. Discussions between Pakistani and Afghan Taliban delegations had begun in Istanbul on Saturday, but Islamabad’s long-standing concern of terror attacks emanating from Afghanistan had been a bone of contention, resulting in a stalemate. “While the talks have not begun [again], our delegation is still in Istanbul,” Asif said in an exclusive interview with Geo News. He added that “discussions could still restart” if there was “some development that indicates a material change in Kabul’s attitude on the insistence of these two friendly countries (Turkiye and Qatar)”. “Our stance, that there will not be any attacks on us (Pakistan) from their land and they will not back such attacks, is a sticking point. If an understanding can be reached on that, [well and good], it will be a good thing,” Asif said. The minister noted, “There has been no breakthro...

Minister brands Kabul regime a proxy of India; Questions legitimacy of Taliban government

Defence Minister Khawaja Asif on Tuesday said that an agreement was about to be reached with Afghanistan, but Afghan negotiators backpedaled after contacting Kabul during the negotiations. A second round of talks between the two sides had begun on Saturday in Istanbul. The Qatar talks had come after days of fighting along the Pak-Afghan border and strikes by Islamabad on Gul Bahadur group camps in Afghanistan. The agreement reached in Doha extended an initial 48-hour truce and resulted in a temporary ceasefire, as well as a commitment to reconvene in Istanbul to work on mechanisms for lasting peace and stability between the two countries. Speaking on Geo News programme ‘Aaj Shahzeb Khanzada ke Saath’, the defence minister stated that negotiators had backpedaled on an agreement “four or five times” after receiving instructions from Kabul. “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 wit...

Islamabad, Kabul seek to firm up truce Istanbul negotiations to continue today

• Hafiz Gul Bahadur group’s positions in the crosshairs hours after audacious gun-and-bomb attack in North Waziristan • Strikes come despite extension of ceasefire; security officials say ‘truce with Afghan govt, not terror outfits’ • Khawaja Asif accuses Afghan Taliban of ‘sitting in India’s lap’; says terrorists will be made to pay heavy price, wherever they are • Questions remain over Qatar-mediated talks between Pakistan and Afghanistan in absence of clarity over who will attend ISLAMABAD: With representatives from both sides expected to meet in Doha soon for talks mediated by the Qatari government, a telling statement from the country’s defence minister indicated that the gloves were off, as Pakistan again targeted terrorist hideouts in Afghanistan on Friday. The attacks came on the heels of an audacious gun-and-bomb attack, targeting a military installation in North Waziristan, and just hours after Islamabad and Kabul extended their two-day ceasefire. Incidents were reported from the Angoor Adda region ...

The Foreign Office (FO) on Wednesday announced that a temporary ceasefire has been agreed with Afghanistan for the next 48 hours amid recent border hostilities between the two countries. “A temporary ceasefire has been decided between the Pakistani government and the Afghan Taliban regime, with the mutual consent of both parties, for the next 48 hours from 6pm today, at the request of the Taliban.” “During this period, both sides will make sincere efforts to find a positive solution to this complex but solvable issue through constructive dialogue,” the FO said. Taliban regime spokesperson Zabiullah Mujahid said on X that Afghan forces were instructed to respect the ceasefire, “unless any aggression takes place”. Strikes on Kabul, Kandahar Earlier, state broadcaster PTV News reported that the Pakistan armed forces conducted “precision strikes” in Afghanistan’s Kandahar province and capital Kabul. A statement uploaded on X, quoting security sources, said: “Pakistan Army’s retaliatory action against Afghan Talib...

Defence minister says Islamabad aims for peaceful, dignified ties with Kabul

Amid rising speculations over an explosion reported in the Afghan capital a day earlier, the interim Taliban government on Friday accused Pakistan of “violating Kabul’s sovereign territory”. “Pakistan violated Afghanistan’s airspace, bombing a civilian market in the Marghi area of Paktika near the Durand Line and also violating Kabul’s sovereign territory,” the Afghan Defence Ministry said in a post on social media. For its part, Pakistan remained tight-lipped on the issue, with the the military spokesperson neither confirming nor denying the strikes when questioned about them at a press conference earlier in the day. The Foreign Office, meanwhile, did not respond to a request for comment till the publication of this report. On Thursday evening, residents in the border town of Marghi reported that a market selling second-hand weapons had been bombed. Around the same time, Afghan government spokesman Afghan Taliban spokesperson Zabeehullah Mujahid confirmed on X that an explosion “was heard in the city of Kabu...

India will reopen its embassy in the Afghan capital Kabul that was shut four years ago, Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said on Friday. India had closed its embassy in Kabul after the Taliban seized power following the withdrawal of US-led Nato forces in 2021, but opened a small mission a year later to facilitate trade, medical support, and humanitarian aid. About a dozen countries including China, Russia, Iran, Pakistan and Turkiye have embassies operating in Kabul, although Russia is the only country to have formally recognised the Taliban administration. New Delhi’s announcement came as Afghan Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi began talks with Jaishankar on what is the first visit to India by a Taliban leader since 2021. “India is fully committed to the sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence of Afghanistan,” Jaishankar told Muttaqi in his opening remarks. “Closer cooperation between us contributes to your national development, as well as regional stability and resilien...

Afghan authorities reported an explosion in the Afghan capital of Kabul late on Thursday night. Afghan Taliban spokesperson Zabeehullah Mujahid said in a post on X: “The sound of an explosion was heard in the city of Kabul. However, no one should worry, it is all well and good, the investigation of the incident is underway, no report of any damage has been given so far.” Sources reported a Land Cruiser vehicle was apparently hit in the area of Abdul Haq Square in Kabul. Afghan media outlet Tolo News reported that, according to locals, the Abdul Haq intersection was closed, resulting in widespread traffic congestion in the area. AFP journalists reported that two explosions were heard in the capital. The two blasts occurred around 9:50pm local time (10:20 PKT). In the streets of the Afghan capital, numerous security forces were alerted and were searching cars, an AFP journalist saw. Mobile telephone service was down in several neighborhoods.

Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi on Sunday told a US delegation in Kabul that American citizen Amir Amiri had been released from prison, the Afghan foreign ministry said in a statement. United States President Donald Trump’s special envoy for hostage response, Adam Boehler, welcomed the decision to release the American citizen and called it a good moment for him, the statement read. Muttaqi was quoted as saying, “The Afghan government does not view the issues of its citizens from a political angle and makes it clear that ways can be found to resolve the issues through diplomacy.” He added that the step taken by his government to release the American citizen was a positive development and thanked the government of Qatar for its role in facilitating the release of the prisoner. According to the statement, Boehler described the previous round of talks between Kabul and Washington as “constructive” and expressed hope that talks on the remaining issues would continue. This was the second visit to Kabul by...

Trade with Central Asia, Kabul surges to $2.4b

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar on Friday confirmed that Afghanistan issued a demarche to Islamabad’s ambassador in Kabul, after they alleged that Pakistan carried out drone strikes across the border. At least three people were killed and seven wounded in two separate incidents in Afghanistan’s Nangarhar and Khost provinces, which Afghan authorities claimed were strikes carried out by Pakistan. There was no official word from Islamabad, and Afghan authorities did not provide any evidence of Pakistan’s involvement in the incidents. Fielding questions after a press briefing in Islamabad today, Dar said that he had just returned from travelling and was still “going through the system”. However, he added that had received a copy of the letter to Pakistan’s ambassador but did not elaborate on why it was issued. “I’m still going through the system, but they handed our ambassador a letter, which is called a demarche,” the foreign minister said. “This needs investigation, to look into the situati...