Pakistan has agreed to resume talks with the Afghan Taliban in Istanbul on Thursday, a day after the Defence Minister Khwaja threatened to send Afghanistan back to caves. The latest developments came a day after Islamabad and Kabul ended talks without any agreement on wednesday.
It is learnt that the Pakistani delegation, which had been preparing to return home, extended its stay in Istanbul at Turkiye’s request to give the peace process “another chance”.
“Turkiye played a crucial role in persuading both sides to return to the table,” a senior official said, describing Ankara’s diplomatic outreach as “instrumental in restoring communication.”
On Wednesday, Pakistan’s defence minister, Khawaja Asif, threatened to obliterate the ruling Taliban in Afghanistan.
“Let me assure them that Pakistan does not require even to deploy one per cent of its arsenal to completely obliterate the Taliban regime and push them back to the caves for hiding,” he had warned.
Peace talks ended without a “workable solution”, information minister Attaullah Tarar said early on Wednesday after this month’s deadly clashes.
Pakistan issued a threatening response to the Taliban, saying, “If the Taliban regime wanted to fight us, the world will, Insha’Allah, see that their threats are only a performative circus.”
We have borne your treachery and mockery for too long, but no more," he said.
He warned that "any terrorist attack or any suicide bombing inside Pakistan would give you (Taliban) a bitter taste of such misadventures."
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