ISLAMABAD – Pakistan and Afghanistan will hold another round of peace talks in Istanbul next week and will maintain a ceasefire until then, Turkey’s foreign ministry confirmed late Thursday.
The talks, set for November 6, come in the wake of the deadliest clashes between the South Asian neighbors since the Taliban returned 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. AFP
The two sides had been holding talks in Istanbul under Turkish and Qatari mediation, until Islamabad said Wednesday that the negotiations had collapsed.
A Pakistani security source, Pakistan state broadcaster PTV and Afghan state-run broadcaster RTA had all said earlier Thursday that the talks were likely to resume.
RTA laid the blame for the talks’ collapse on “unreasonable demands of the Pakistani side”.
Afghan officials have not commented publicly about the possibility of resuming the negotiations.
Relations between the one-time allies, who share a 2,600-kilometer frontier, have deteriorated in recent years. AFP
