Pakistan, Afghan Taliban to renew peace talks in Istanbul

Pakistan and the Afghan Taliban have been set to renew peace talks in Istanbul on Thursday (November 6, 2025), aiming to sort out the problem of cross-border terrorism and keep away from additional escalation between the 2 sides.

Clashes broke out between the border troops on October 11, leading to casualties on each side. Pakistan claimed that not less than 206 Afghan Taliban and 110 Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan operatives have been killed, whereas Pakistan suffered the lack of 23 troopers.

Pakistan confirms talks with Afghanistan failed, accuses Kabul of backtracking on commitments 

A ceasefire was agreed between the 2 sides on October 15, which had been prolonged in the course of the two rounds of talks held on October 19 in Doha and October 25 in Istanbul. The non permanent truce remains to be holding, however mutual acrimony is clear on social media and within the statements of officers from each side.

The Istanbul talks have been heading in the direction of failure, however the state of affairs was saved by Turkiye, and one other spherical was agreed for which officers of the 2 nations have reached Istanbul.

For the third spherical, being facilitated collectively by Turkiye and Qatar, Pakistan’s delegation is being led by Lt. Gen Asim Malik, director normal of the Inter-Services Intelligence and nationwide safety advisor, and consists of senior officers from the navy, intelligence companies, and the Foreign Office.

The Afghan Taliban’s delegation consists of General Directorate of Intelligence (GDI) chief Abdul Haq Waseq, Deputy Interior Minister Rehmatullah Najib, Taliban spokesperson Suhail Shaheen, Anas Haqqani, Qahar Balkhi, Zakir Jalali and Afghanistan’s chargé d’affaires in Ankara. The talks are anticipated to proceed for 2 days.

A joint assertion was issued by the Turkish Foreign Ministry, following the final spherical of talks, stating that “all parties have agreed on continuation of ceasefire” and “to place in place a monitoring and verification mechanism that may guarantee upkeep of peace and impose a penalty on the violating get together”.

It additionally said that “the principals” from each side would reconvene in Istanbul on November 6, 2025 to debate implementation. Pakistan’s said place has been unchanged that Afghan soil should not be used for terrorism towards it.

Early this week, Pakistani navy spokesman Lt. Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry accused Kabul of harbouring the TTP fighters, saying that stopping assaults from Afghan soil was a requirement of Pakistan on which there could be no compromise.

He described the TTP as a “department of the Afghan Taliban” and accused the group of transferring its fighters to populated areas to guard them from assaults. He mentioned if the problem will not be resolved by way of talks, Pakistan reserves the suitable to take motion, and any assault will probably be responded to with full power.