Delegations from Afghanistan and Pakistan will be sitting across the table at Istanbul on Saturday to follow up on the Doha peace agreement held last week
NEW DELHI — Delegations from Afghanistan and Pakistan will be sitting across the table at Istanbul on Saturday to follow up on the implementation, and other details of the Doha peace agreement held last week.
The negotiations, mediated by Qatar and Türkiye, were aimed at Afghanistan and Pakistan reaching a ceasefire agreement following days of deadly cross-border gunfire that killed, injured, and displaced civilians near the Durand Line that separates the two countries.
The negotiations at the Qatrai capital earlier reportedly lasted about 13 hours with Doha announcing an agreement early morning on October 19.
The temporary ceasefire brought hope and bought time for the beleaguered civillians settled around the border following a week of intermittent, but heavy clashes.
Soon after the Doha talks, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif, leading Pakistan’s negotiators at the Qatari capital, had emphasised that the ceasefire will only hold if the Taliban stops cross-border terrorist attacks.
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He stressed that the entire ceasefire hinges on this critical clause, making the Taliban’s compliance the linchpin for maintaining peace.
However, the Taliban claimed that it had responded to an earlier aerial attack carried out by Pakistan within its territories, including Kabul.
While successful implementation would somewhat stabilise the volatility in the region which is directly affecting trade and transit – including Afghanistan’s access to Pakistani ports – failure could aggravate military and diplomatic tensions in the South Asian neighbourhood.
According to a spokesperson of Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry, Islamabad expects a clear monitoring mechanism to be established in Istanbul to address its security concerns.
He stated that while Pakistan does not seek escalation, it urges the Afghan Taliban to address its concerns over alleged terrorist entities in regions around the Durand Line.
The demarcating line is itself a subject of dispute for successive powers that be in Kabul, who claim Pashtun-dominated areas across this border as parts of Afghanistan, or a separate ‘Pashtunistan’.
Taliban Defence Minister Muhammad Yaqoob Mujahid, who led Afghanistan’s delegation for the Doha talks, earlier said that there were no talks on the disputed border in their agreement with Pakistan.
On Saturday’s Istanbul talks, he had merely stated that the meeting would focus on the implementation of the Doha Agreement.
Khawaja Asif’s recent statement, widely reported in the media, that the details of the Doha agreement will remain confidential, also raises certain questions.
However, Pakistan’s Defence Minister did share that the agreement included three points: Return of Afghan refugees from Pakistan, alleged harbouring of Tehreek‑e‑Taliban Pakistan (TTP) fighters by Kabul, and a ceasefire.
According to United Nations' estimates, globally, 10.3 million Afghans remain displaced within their country or in neighbouring countries due to conflict, violence and poverty.
Pakistan hosted 1.6 million Afghan refugees, of which, it added that an estimated 126,800 have returned in the past year. Since then, Islamabad has forced tens of thousands of Afghan refugees back.
With widespread poverty and hunger in the country, and lack of funding in the absence of diplomatic recognition to the Taliban regime, Kabul is overwhelmed with this traffic.
Incidentally, Iran and Pakistan are the two largest host countries of Afghan refugees, where nearly a quarter of a million came back in 2024 from the former.
More returned during Israel’s June bombing of Iran. Meanwhile, Islamabad’s claim of Kabul supporting terror activities against Pakistan has been repeatedly denied by the Taliban.
It now depends on the mediators to guide the two neighbours through their complicated maze of relations while they figure out lasting peace while in the largest city of Türkiye.