Türkiye’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, Defence Minister Yasar Guler, and intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin will visit Islamabad next week to discuss tensions between Afghanistan and Pakistan, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday.
He made the announcement while speaking to reporters on his flight returning from Azerbaijan.
Talks between Pakistan and Afghanistan, which were taking place in Istanbul in the presence of mediators, broke down on Friday without any agreement, as negotiators failed to bridge deep differences over how to monitor and prevent cross-border terrorism, officials and sources said. Defence Minister Khawaja Asif insisted that the negotiations were “over” and had “entered an indefinite phase”.
“Right now, as we speak, negotiations are over,” Asif told, alleging that the Afghan Taliban delegation again came to Istanbul “without any programme” and was unwilling to sign a written agreement. A senior security source confirmed that discussions had hit an impasse. “The talks in Istanbul are deadlocked,” he said. However, it is understood that a fragile ceasefire between the two countries is still holding. The defence minister also said that the truce stands for the time being but warned that the “moment there is a ceasefire violation from their side, we will respond befittingly”.
Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Sunday spoke to his Pakistani and Afghan counterparts, Ishaq Dar and Amir Khan Muttaqi, discussing bilateral ties as well as the recent negotiations in Istanbul between Islamabad and Kabul, the Iranian and Afghan foreign ministries said.
According to Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency, Araghchi announced Iran’s readiness for any kind of assistance to resolve differences between the two countries.
“Expressing concern about the current situation between Afghanistan and Pakistan, he emphasised the need for continued dialogue between the two sides with the cooperation of influential countries in the region to resolve differences and reduce tension, and announced the readiness of the Islamic Republic of Iran to provide any kind of assistance to achieve this goal. FM Dar, while explaining the latest situation and the results of the talks between his country and Afghanistan following recent developments, stressed the importance of maintaining peace and stability in the region, according to IRNA. The two sides also agreed to continue consultations in this regard.