Khawaja Asif warns of war ahead of Afghanistan-Pakistan peace talks in Turkiye

Pakistan's Defence Minister Khawaja Asif once again warns of war, ahead of the fresh rounds of talks with Afghanistan in Istanbul. The televised remark was made on Wednesday, just as a delegation from Pakistan had left the country to hold talks with the Taliban, to resolve the ongoing conflict.

Asif responded to the reporter as he pressed about the scenario where the peace talks fail, “Considering the situation now, there are possibilities of escalation.” He said that the continuous infiltration and cross-border terrorism will result in war. However, Asif also said that he hopes that Afghanistan will “make use of wisdom" and peace will be restored.

Afghanistan-Pakistan Peace talks in Turkiye

The third round of the Pakistan-Afghanistan talks aimed at ending the ongoing conflict, the cross-border terrorism and consolidating the fragile ceasefire will begin in Istanbul today. The delegation for this round of talks is led by Lt. Gen Asim Malik, Director General of the ISI and other senior officials from the military, intelligence agencies and the Foreign Office. Afghanistan's Taliban delegation includes General Directorate of Intelligence (GDI) chief Abdul Haq Waseq, 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 a report by Dawn, the two sides will consider the implementation of the commitments from the previous rounds of talks and attempt to finalise the mechanism agreed upon in principle for the verification and monitoring to ensure peace.

However, there is an angst and pessimism in both capitals about the dialogue. “The Pakistan military and intelligence service have a single-point agenda - the end of terrorism,” said Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, military spokesperson of Pakistan. Pakistan wants commitment from Afghanistan that its soil will not be used for terrorism against Pakistan.