Afghanistan’s Taliban government said its ceasefire with Pakistan would remain even though their latest talks failed, blaming Islamabad’s “irresponsible and uncooperative” approach.
The two sides met on Thursday in Turkey to finalise a truce agreed on Oct 19 in Qatar, following deadly clashes between the South Asian neighbours.
Both remained tight-lipped on the content of the discussions, known only to have addressed long-standing security issues.
“During the discussions, the Pakistani side attempted to shift all responsibility for its security to the Afghan government, while showing no willingness to take responsibility for either Afghanistan’s security or its own,” Taliban government spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid wrote on social media yesterday.
At a news conference later on, Zabihullah stressed that the ceasefire “will hold”.
“There is no issue with the ceasefire previously agreed upon with Pakistan, it will hold.”
Neither Islamabad nor mediators immediately commented on the announcement that the talks had failed.
Relations between the one-time allies, who share a 2,600km frontier, have soured in recent years over Islamabad’s accusations that Afghanistan harbours militant groups, which stage attacks in Pakistan. The Taliban government has consistently denied the allegations.
Each side has threatened a resumption of hostilities that saw more than 70 people killed and hundreds wounded last month. — AFP
