Minister of Information and Broadcasting Attaullah Tarar confirmed on Wednesday that the latest round of talks between Pakistan and the Afghan Taliban in Turkiye had ended without any breakthrough and “the dialogue thus failed to bring about any workable solution”. He said that ever since the fall of Kabul, Pakistan had repeatedly engaged with the Afghan Taliban regime regarding cross-border terrorism being carried out by India-backed TTP and the BLA but they remain “indifferent to Pakistan’s losses”. In both Doha and Istanbul, Pakistan had asked the Afghan Taliban regime to give written guarantee that cross-border infiltration will be stopped but the Istanbul talks collapsed following the Taliban’s lack of commitment and seriousness to address terrorism-related issues, as well as their refusal to provide any written guarantees. After the failed talks, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif issued a stern warning to the Afghan Taliban regime and said that Pakistan would not tolerate any “treachery and mockery”. According to Khawaja, Pakistan does not need to employ “even a fraction of its full arsenal to completely obliterate the Taliban regime and push them back to the caves for hiding”.
After the recent Pak-Afghan clashes, the two sides had agreed to a ceasefire brokered in Doha on October 19, but could not find common ground in a second round of talks mediated by Turkiye and Qatar in Istanbul. Regional experts say that it is all but clear that the Taliban regime wants to protect the TTP at all costs without any regard for Pakistan’s decades of support. However, there are also legitimate concerns that these failed talks not only do not bode well for the Pak-Afghan relations but for the region as a whole too. There are reports that Afghanistan is fast turning into a hub of terrorism after several global terrorist organisations have shifted there. Regional countries like China, Russia and Iran have been worried about this development but if the Taliban regime is willing to protect the TTP and alienate its neighbour Pakistan, then there is little chance that it will take any action against other terrorist organisations. If any terrorist attack takes place in other countries and its links are found with those operating from Afghan soil, it can lead to a very difficult situation for Afghanistan once again. One wonders if the Afghan regime realises this.
Taliban 2.0 seems to have upped the ideological nature of its politics and policy. Pakistan has tried its best to resolve this conflict through dialogue in Doha and Istanbul to give peace a chance but the Afghan Taliban just do not seem interested in giving assurances despite Pakistan providing irrefutable evidence of cross-border terrorism. The problem now is that Pakistan will have to resort to kinetic options more often than not unless the Afghan Taliban put a stop to TTP and BLA activities. On the other hand, there is a growing fear that India will use the failed talks and attempt to create instability in Pakistan through its proxies. If terrorist attacks increase even more than usual, it will be a clear indication of how the Afghan regime also supports the Indian agenda of destabilising Pakistan. Many have suggested that a political solution must be found but the failure of talks in Istanbul point to a bleak future for any solution – political or otherwise. If two important countries like Qatar and Turkiye could not persuade the Taliban regime to listen to reason, there is little chance it would listen to other countries. However, regional players must continue to put pressure on the Taliban regime to come to their senses. Otherwise, things can escalate fast. And that is not a good omen for regional peace.