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Pakistan, Afghan Taliban Peace Talks To Begin in Istanbul

By The South Asia Times

ISTANBUL- Pakistan and Afghan Taliban delegation peace talks will begin in Istanbul on Thursday as the delegations from Pakistan and Afghanistan already arrived in Istanbul on Wednesday.

The third round of talks hosted jointly by Türkiye and Qatar, marking the latest diplomatic effort to ease tensions following last month’s deadly border clashes.

The Pakistani delegation is led by Lt Gen Asim Malik, Director General of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), and includes senior officials from the military, intelligence agencies, and the Foreign Office. The Afghan Taliban delegation is headed by Abdul Haq Waseq, chief of the General Directorate of Intelligence (GDI), and includes Deputy Interior Minister Rehmatullah Najib, Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen, Anas Haqqani, Qahar Balkhi, Zakir Jalali, and Afghanistan’s chargé d’affaires in Ankara, according to daily Dawn.

According to a diplomat from one of the mediating nations, both sides will review progress on earlier commitments and seek to finalize the framework for a monitoring and verification mechanism agreed in principle last week.

A previous round of talks, also hosted by Türkiye and Qatar, resulted in a ceasefire agreement and a decision to establish a mechanism to penalize violations.

The Thursday’s meeting, the diplomat said, will focus on ensuring the implementation of those measures and restoring stability along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.