Talks between Pakistan and Afghanistan will take place today in Istanbul, with Islamabad eyeing a “concrete” mechanism to monitor Afghan Taliban actions aimed at preventing cross-border terrorist attacks..
Today’s scheduled meeting in Istanbul follows the first round of Pakistan-Afghanistan talks mediated jointly by Qatar and Turkiye in Doha on October 18-19.
The Qatar talks had come after days of fighting along the Pak-Afghan border ,where trade is still closed — and Pakistani strikes on Gul Bahadur group camps in Afghanistan.
The agreement reached in Doha extended an initial 48-hour truce and resulted in a permanent ceasefire, as well as a commitment to reconvene in Istanbul to work on mechanisms for lasting peace and stability between the two countries.
“Pakistan looks forward to the establishment of a concrete and verifiable monitoring mechanism in the next meeting to be hosted by Turkiye in Istanbul on Oct 25, 2025, to address the menace of terrorism emanating from Afghan soil towards Pakistan and prevent any further loss of life of Pakistanis,” the new Foreign Office spokesperson, Tahir Hussain Andrabi, said at his maiden weekly media briefing yesterday.
The truce agreed in Doha has largely held, with no major terrorist attacks reported since, according to the Foreign Office.
“We are taking part in the second round of talks in Istanbul with the same sincerity of purpose, with the same sincerity of intent with which we participated in Doha,” the spokesman said.Kabul also confirmed the meeting in Istanbul.
