Taliban-Pakistan Peace Talks in Istanbul End in Failure Amidst Unrealistic Demands

The Foreign Ministry of the Taliban government announced that the third round of peace talks with Pakistan in Istanbul failed due to the presentation of unrealistic and impractical demands by the Pakistani side…

The Foreign Ministry of the Taliban government, while providing new details about the failure of the third round of peace talks with Pakistan in Istanbul, stated that the demands raised by the Pakistani side were unrealistic and impractical.

Hafiz Zia Ahmad Takal, the deputy spokesperson of the Taliban Foreign Ministry, wrote on his X page (formerly Twitter) on Monday, November 20, that this position was expressed by Dr. Mohammad Naeem, the deputy of this ministry, during his meeting with officials of resident embassies in Kabul.

Accusations Against Internal Circles of the Pakistan Army

The deputy foreign minister of the Taliban stated that attributing all security problems of Pakistan to Afghanistan means that specific circles within the Pakistan Army do not wish for issues between the two countries to be resolved through negotiation and understanding. He emphasized that the irresponsible behavior and lack of cooperation from the Pakistani delegation caused all efforts of mediators in the Istanbul negotiations to fail.

Mr. Naeem underscored that whenever the Pakistani side demonstrates goodwill in the negotiations and considers reasonableness and realism in its demands, the Taliban government is ready to resolve the issue through diplomacy and understanding.

TTIP is an Internal Issue of Pakistan

It is noteworthy that the third round of talks between Taliban and Pakistan delegations, held on November 6 and 7 in Turkey, ended without results and both sides blamed each other for the failure.

Pakistan has always claimed that the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has safe havens in Afghanistan under Taliban control and organizes attacks from there in Pakistan. However, the Taliban government firmly rejects this claim, emphasizing that the TTP is an internal issue of Pakistan and has no relation to the Taliban government.