Istanbul. The peace talks going on in Istanbul, Turkey between Afghanistan and Pakistan seem to be failing again. Talks between representatives of the two countries regarding written guarantees, refugee return and border security remained inconclusive. According to the report, the Taliban leadership rejected Pakistan’s conditions as ‘based on distrust’. According to sources, the major reasons for this failure are Pakistan’s policy of gaining ground and the deepening suspicion on Taliban.
Intelligence sources said that Pakistan wanted Afghanistan to give a written assurance that Afghan soil would not be used by Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). But the Taliban government called this condition an attack on its sovereignty and clearly refused. Afghanistan accused Pakistan of creating a humanitarian crisis by forcibly repatriating more than 1.5 million illegal Afghan refugees. The Taliban said Islamabad was using the ‘refugee issue as a tool of political blackmail’.
Meanwhile, clashes broke out again on the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa border on Sunday, in which 5 Pakistani soldiers and 25 militants were killed. Pakistan foiled two major infiltration attempts from neighboring Afghanistan in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and killed 25 terrorists, including four suicide bombers. The army’s media wing said five soldiers were also killed.
At the same time, China is worried about the lack of agreement between Taliban and Pakistan, because the failed talks will be a setback for the CPEC-Afghanistan Extension Corridor. Pakistan says that the Taliban government is not able to control the militants, while Kabul’s reply is that Pakistan should take care of its own security. Intelligence reports suggest that cross-border movement of TTP groups has resumed since mid-October. This movement is taking place through Khost and Paktika route. Not only this, the failure to issue even a joint statement after the talks has also affected Türkiye’s mediating image. On the other hand, Turkish diplomats admitted that ‘both sides used Istanbul only as a symbolic platform’ to show off Muslim brotherhood.