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‘Some in Pakistan playing with fire’: Taliban's warning ahead of peace talks
The talks, scheduled for November 6, come after the deadliest clashes between the South Asian neighbours since the Taliban’s return to power in 2021.
Pakistan and Afghanistan will hold another round of peace talks in Istanbul next week, maintaining a ceasefire until then, Turkey’s foreign ministry confirmed late Thursday.
The talks, scheduled for November 6, follow the deadliest clashes between the South Asian neighbors since the Taliban’s return to power in 2021.
More than 70 people were killed and hundreds wounded in violence that erupted after explosions in Kabul on October 9, which Taliban authorities blamed on Pakistan.
“All parties have agreed to continue the ceasefire. The modalities of its implementation will be examined and decided at a high-level meeting in Istanbul on November 6, 2025,” the Turkish foreign ministry said in a statement.
The two sides had been holding talks in Istanbul under Turkish and Qatari mediation until Islamabad announced on Wednesday that the negotiations had collapsed.
Also Read | Days after deadlock, Pak and Afghanistan ‘agree’ on maintaining ceasefire, talks resume next week
‘We are brothers but some are…’
Responding to growing tensions, Taliban interior minister Sirajuddin Haqqani declared on Thursday, “We are Muslims, brothers, neighbours, but some (in Pakistan), consciously or unconsciously, are playing with fire and war.”
While stressing that Afghans “do not want war,” he added that “defending the territory is one of the priorities.”
‘Unreasonable demands of the Pakistani side’
A Pakistani security source, Pakistan’s state broadcaster PTV, and Afghanistan’s state-run broadcaster RTA all said earlier Thursday that the talks were likely to resume.
RTA attributed the earlier collapse of the talks to “the unreasonable demands of the Pakistani side.”
Afghan officials have not commented publicly on the resumption of negotiations.
Also Read | Delhi supports Kabul as talks with Pak stall
Relations soured in recent years
Relations between the one-time allies, who share a 2,600-kilometre (1,600-mile) frontier, have soured in recent years.
Islamabad accuses Kabul of harbouring militant groups that carry out cross-border attacks — particularly the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) — which it says uses Afghan soil as a base. The Taliban government has consistently denied these allegations.
“Any terrorist attack or suicide bombing inside Pakistan will give you the bitter taste of such misadventures,” Pakistani Defence Minister Khawaja Asif warned earlier this week.
Despite the ceasefire, the border between the two countries has remained closed for more than two weeks, hurting the livelihoods of traders on both sides.
‘Tired nations'
In Kandahar, Afghan cloth trader Nazir Ahmed told AFP that both nations were suffering.
“Our nation is tired and their nation is also tired,” the 35-year-old said Wednesday.
Abdul Jabbar, a vehicle spare parts trader in Pakistan’s border town of Chaman, echoed the sentiment: “Trade suffers greatly. Both countries face losses — both are Islamic nations,” he told AFP.
The United Nations mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said Monday that the violence had killed at least 50 Afghan civilians and wounded 447 others in one week. Pakistan’s military reported on October 12 that 23 personnel were killed and 29 wounded, without specifying civilian casualties.
