Afghanistan-Pakistan peace talks enter third day as US Prez again offers mediation

Afghanistan and Pakistan officials would meet in Istanbul for a third day of talks after failing to clinch a lasting peace, sources said, as US President Donald Trump repeated an offer to mediate.

The South Asian neighbours agreed to a ceasefire in Doha on October 19 after days of border clashes that killed dozens in the worst such violence since the Taliban seized power in Kabul in 2021. The current second round of peace talks mediated by Turkey aims to hammer out a long-term truce, but both sides have offered markedly different interpretations of the talks.

Trump repeated an offer to help end the conflict. “I’ll get that solved very quickly, I know them both,” he said in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur on the sidelines of a regional summit. “I have no doubt we are going to get that done quickly.”

Two Pakistan security sources accused the Taliban of not cooperating with the dialogue process. “Pakistan has made it clear that no compromise is possible on our core demands on cross border terrorism,” one of the sources said.

A Taliban delegate dismissed the suggestion that the Islamist group was holding up the talks as “false”, adding that the discussions were still in progress. “Overall, the meeting is going well and we discussed multiple issues in a friendly environment,” he said. Taliban’s Zabihullah Mujahid said, “Afghanistan supports dialogue and believes that problems and issues can be resolved through dialogue.”