Pakistan: Regional Mediation Efforts With Taliban Have Failed to Ease Tensions

DID Press: Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry says mediation efforts by regional countries to ease tensions between Islamabad and the Taliban administration in Kabul have so far failed to produce a breakthrough.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Sajjad Haider Khan said Pakistan had engaged with the Taliban administration twice over the past year through mediation platforms in Qatar and Türkiye, but the efforts had not produced the desired outcome. Pakistan’s Foreign Office confirmed that the two rounds took place through these mediatory channels.

Haider Khan said the Taliban administration had not provided assurances that armed groups operating from Afghan territory would be prevented from carrying out attacks against Pakistan. Islamabad has repeatedly identified this issue as a central condition for improving bilateral relations.

Pakistan has also used China as a channel for dialogue. Pakistani officials said talks involving Afghanistan, Pakistan and China were held in Urumqi, while Islamabad has continued to describe dialogue and diplomacy as the preferred means of resolving disputes.

The dispute has affected political and security relations as well as trade, transit and border connectivity between the two countries. Pakistan says progress on restoring normal trade and transit relations depends on concrete and verifiable action against militant groups operating from Afghan territory.

The Taliban administration has repeatedly rejected Pakistan’s allegations that Afghan territory is being allowed to be used against Pakistan.