By Asif Shahzad and Sayed Hassib
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) -Talks aimed at securing a long-term truce between Afghanistan and Pakistan concluded in Istanbul without a “workable solution”, Pakistan’s information minister said on Wednesday, in a blow for peace in the region after deadly clashes this month.
The talks were aimed at reaching lasting peace between the South Asian neighbours after dozens were killed along their border in the worst such violence since the Taliban took power in Kabul in 2021.
“The Afghan side kept deviating from the core issue, evading the key point upon which the dialogue process was initiated,” Pakistan Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said in a statement early on Wednesday.
“Instead of accepting any responsibility, the Afghan Taliban resorted to blame game, deflection and ruses. The dialogue thus failed to bring about any workable solution,” Tarar said.
Afghanistan’s foreign and defence ministries did not immediately respond to requests from Reuters for comment on Tarar’s statement.
Both nations agreed to a ceasefire brokered in Doha on October 19, but could not find common ground in a second round of talks mediated by Turkey and Qatar in Istanbul, Afghan and Pakistani sources briefed on the issue told Reuters on Tuesday, with each blaming the other for the failure.
A Pakistani security source said the Taliban had been unwilling to commit to rein in the Pakistani Taliban, a separate militant group hostile to Pakistan that Islamabad says operates with impunity inside Afghanistan.
An Afghan source familiar with the talks said they had ended after “tense exchanges” over the issue, adding that the Afghan side said it no control over the Pakistani Taliban, which has launched attacks against Pakistani troops in recent weeks.
The sources sought anonymity as they were not authorised to speak publicly.
The October clashes began after Pakistani air strikes this month on Kabul, the Afghan capital, among other locations, targeting the head of the Pakistani Taliban.
The Taliban responded with attacks on Pakistani military posts along the length of the 2,600-km (1,600 miles) border.
On Saturday, Pakistan’s defence minister said he believed Afghanistan wanted peace but that failure to reach an agreement in Istanbul would mean “open war”.
Despite a ceasefire between Pakistan and the Taliban, weekend clashes killed five Pakistani soldiers and 25 Pakistani Taliban militants near the border with Afghanistan, the military said on Sunday.
(Reporting by Asif Shahzad in Islamabad and Sayed Hassib in Kabul; Additional reporting by Mrinmay Dey in Bengaluru; Writing by Alasdair Pal; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)
