ISTANBUL– Fourth round of peace talks between Pakistan and the Afghan Taliban began here on Tuesday.
There were doubts about the future of negotiations between the neighbours after the third round ended on Monday without a breakthrough as no encouraging response was received from Kabul, diplomatic sources said.
“The third round of negotiations continued for almost 18 hours and the Taliban delegation has been repeatedly contacting Kabul, and their stance changed after every consultation,” said the sources.
According to sources, Pakistan remained firm on the “reasonable demands it has presented”, but the Afghan Taliban delegation was not willing to accept them.”
Sources said the Pakistani delegation’s position remained “logical, strong, and indispensable for peace”. The hosts also acknowledged that “Pakistan’s demands are reasonable and legitimate”. Interestingly, the Afghan Taliban delegation themselves believed that accepting these demands would be appropriate.
Sources said that the Afghan delegation was being controlled from Kabul as the members repeatedly contacted the Kabul administration and proceeded according to its orders. However, no encouraging response has been received from Kabul, causing the talks to stall.
According to sources, it appeared that some elements in Kabul were working on a different agenda.
It may be recalled that first round of talks between Pakistan and Afghanistan was held in Doha, the capital of Qatar, where both sides agreed on a ceasefire. The next round was held in Istanbul during which implementation of the points agreed in the first round was reviewed.
According to security sources, Pakistan provided Afghan authorities with a comprehensive plan to prevent terrorism emanating from its soil, but the talks remained inconclusive.
