A second round of talks between Pakistan and Afghanistan will take place today in Istanbul, with Islamabad eyeing a “concrete” mechanism to monitor Afghan Taliban actions aimed at preventing cross-border terrorist attacks..
Today’s scheduled meeting in Istanbul follows the first round[1] of Pakistan-Afghanistan talks mediated jointly by Qatar and Turkiye in Doha on October 18-19.
The Qatar talks had come after days of fighting[2] along the Pak-Afghan border — where trade is still closed[3] — and Pakistani strikes[4] on Gul Bahadur group camps in Afghanistan. The agreement reached in Doha extended an initial 48-hour truce[5] and resulted in a permanent ceasefire, as well as a commitment to reconvene in Istanbul to work on mechanisms for lasting peace and stability between the two countries.
“Pakistan looks forward to the establishment of a concrete and verifiable monitoring mechanism in the next meeting to be hosted by Turkiye in Istanbul on Oct 25, 2025, to address the menace of terrorism emanating from Afghan soil towards Pakistan and prevent any further loss of life of Pakistanis,” the new Foreign Office spokesperson, Tahir Hussain Andrabi, said at his maiden weekly media briefing yesterday.
The truce agreed in Doha has largely held, with no major terrorist attacks reported since, according to the Foreign Office.
“We are taking part in the second round of talks in Istanbul with the same sincerity of purpose, with the same sincerity of intent with which we participated in Doha,” the spokesman said.
Kabul also confirmed the meeting in Istanbul.
Afghan interim administration spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said its delegation will be led by Mawlawi Rahmatullah Najeeb, deputy minister for administrative affairs at Ministry of Interior, Turkish news agency Anadolu[6] reported.
“The remaining issues [with Pakistan] will be discussed in the meeting,” Mujahid said in a post[7] on X last night, adding that the Afghan delegation had left Kabul for Istanbul.
The Istanbul round offers an opportunity to move from temporary calm towards a structured, verifiable peace framework with mechanisms for monitoring, verification and sustained dialogue through technical committees.
Turkish officials have indicated that a technical committee in Istanbul will review details of the ceasefire, including terrorism, migration and border security.
At the talks today, Pakistan is expected to seek concrete and verifiable commitments from the Afghan side to eliminate the threat of the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) from its territory, which Pakistan says uses Afghan soil to launch attacks across the border.
The agenda includes dismantling known TTP sanctuaries, arresting or expelling key figures and defining clear timelines and benchmarks for measurable action such as raids, arrests and destruction of safe houses.
To ensure implementation, Islamabad plans to propose mechanisms for intelligence-sharing, cross-border coordination and real-time monitoring of militant movements and financing.
Pakistan also supports establishing a third-party oversight structure, potentially co-chaired by Turkiye and Qatar, to verify progress and address non-compliance.
Additional priorities will include securing Afghan assurances against providing safe havens to hostile groups, strengthening border control, ensuring financial transparency on militant funding and holding regular review meetings to assess compliance.
“During the Doha talks, the basic focus was to stop the terrorist attacks from Afghan soil into Pakistan.
“And in order to do that, we should have a verifiable, empirical mechanism to ascertain that the Afghan Taliban regime in Kabul is taking concrete actions to stop such attacks,” the FO spokesperson said.
He said the continuation of the ceasefire demonstrated the progress achieved in Doha.
“In effect, the Doha talks and outcomes were fruitful. We would like the trend to continue in Istanbul and post-Istanbul,” Andrabi added.
References
- ^ first round (www.dawn.com)
- ^ fighting (www.dawn.com)
- ^ still closed (www.dawn.com)
- ^ strikes (www.dawn.com)
- ^ 48-hour truce (www.dawn.com)
- ^ Anadolu (www.aa.com.tr)
- ^ post (x.com)