• Islamabad says demands ‘non-negotiable’ as third round opens in Istanbul
• Taliban leader asks Afghan team to only make ‘realistic’ commitments
• Flare-up at Chaman-Spin Boldak looms over talks; at least two killed
ISLAMABAD: The third round of Pakistan-Afghanistan talks opened in Istanbul on Thursday, surviving a brief exchange of fire along the border that tested a shaky ceasefire.
Mediated by Turkiye and Qatar and held at the Conrad Hotel with restricted media access, the two-day round is focused on finalising a framework for a “monitoring and verification mechanism” agreed in principle last week, and on addressing long-standing disputes linked to militant sanctuaries inside Afghanistan.
Pakistan’s delegation is led by Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Director General Lt Gen Asim Malik and includes senior military, intelligence and Foreign Office officials.
The Afghan Taliban side is headed by General Directorate of Intelligence (GDI) chief Abdul Haq Waseq and includes senior figures such as Suhail Shaheen, Anas Haqqani and Deputy Interior Minister Rehmatullah Najib.
The current dialogue process began after deadly clashes along the border last month — the worst since the Taliban’s 2021 takeover of Kabul. Pakistan accused the Taliban of harbouring militants from Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), responsible for a series of cross-border attacks. The Taliban denied the accusations and accused Islamabad of airstrikes inside Afghan territory.
A ceasefire was brokered in Doha on Oct 19 through Qatari mediation, followed by two rounds of talks in Istanbul.
Before formal discussions resumed in Istanbul for the third round, Turkish and Qatari intelligence officials held separate consultations with both sides. The talks later continued in both direct and indirect formats.
A Pakistani official familiar with the delegation’s position said Islamabad’s demands remain “non-negotiable”.
“Pakistan’s position is clear,” the official said. “Our position is based on ground realities and solid information. We are seeking a verification mechanism to ensure that commitments made by Taliban representatives are kept. This includes the handover of all TTP leadership currently sheltered in Afghanistan.”
He added that the Pakistani delegation had proposed neutral, third-party observers to look into the presence of “terrorist groups” in Afghanistan and the action that is taken against them to prevent them from carrying out attacks in Pakistan.
“We have credible information that the (Afghan) Taliban regime is relocating TTP fighters within urban civilian populations,” he said. “This is a tactic designed to falsely portray any necessary action by Pakistan against TTP terrorists as an attack on civilians.”
According to Afghan sources, the Taliban delegation came to Istanbul with specific instructions from their leader, Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada. The Taliban chief reportedly told his negotiators to make only those commitments that could be realistically fulfilled and warned them against yielding to Pakistani demands.
Exchange of fire
Expectations for the Istanbul round were already modest, given the deep mistrust between the two sides and the little progress made in the previous two rounds. The situation worsened briefly on Thursday afternoon after two people, including a woman, were killed on the Pakistani side in a cross-border exchange of fire at the Chaman-Spin Boldak crossing, threatening to derail the fragile dialogue.
Both sides accused the other of initiating the gunfire, though no casualties were reported. The incident, which lasted for a short time, came just hours after the opening session of talks in Istanbul.
“Afghan forces opened fire at Tasadaq and Iqbal Posts located along the Chaman border around 5pm, and Pakistani troops immediately retaliated and returned fire,” an official told Dawn.
He said the mortars landed in the Vesh Mandi area. However, he said it was a brief exchange of fire and no loss of life or property was reported.
An Afghan official in Spin Boldak told Chaman-based journalists that the incident was a result of a misunderstanding arising from celebratory fire at a marriage ceremony.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid, however, disputed the account, accusing Pakistani forces of violating the truce.
“While the third round of negotiations with the Pakistani side had begun in Istanbul, unfortunately, this afternoon Pakistani forces once again opened fire on Spin Boldak, causing concern among the local population,” he said in a statement. “The Islamic emirate’s forces, out of respect for the negotiation team and to prevent civilian casualties, have so far shown no reaction.”
However, Pakistan rejected Mr Mujahid’s claim as “baseless”.
“We strongly reject claims circulated by the Afghan side regarding today’s incident at the Pak-Afghan border at Chaman,” the Information Ministry said. “Firing was initiated from the Afghan side, to which our security forces responded immediately in a measured and responsible manner.”
It added that the situation was brought under control, and the ceasefire remains intact.
Saleem Shahid in Quetta also contributed to this report
Published in Dawn, November 7th, 2025
