Taliban-Pakistan Talks in Istanbul End Without Progress
The Taliban administration has announced that recent talks between its representatives and Pakistani officials in Istanbul concluded without any progress due to what it described as Pakistan’s “unreasonable demands.”
According to media affiliated with the Taliban administration, the Pakistani government had requested guarantees that no attacks would be launched into Pakistan from Afghan soil— a demand rejected by the Taliban delegation.
The Taliban stated that Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has been active since before their takeover of Afghanistan and called it an internal issue for Pakistan. Therefore, they deemed Islamabad’s request for security assurances from Afghanistan unacceptable.
Nevertheless, the Taliban reiterated their commitment to preventing Afghan territory from being used to launch attacks against Pakistan or any other country.
In turn, the Taliban demanded that Pakistan prevent the Islamic State group and other anti-Taliban factions from operating out of its territory against Afghanistan.
They also urged Pakistan to respect Afghanistan’s airspace and to differentiate between political relations and trade ties.
The talks come amid escalating tensions between the two sides in recent months, with both countries accusing each other of harboring opposition groups.
