Pakistan and Afghan Taliban delegations in Doha for crucial talks after recent cross-border strikes. However, negotiations between the two sides have not yet begun. The talks come amid heightened tensions between Pakistan and Afghan Taliban following Islamabad’s “precision aerial strikes” on Afghan border areas targeting a militant group linked to the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
Zabiullah Mujahid, spokesperson for the Afghan Taliban, confirmed on his official X account that a high-level delegation, led by Mullah Mohammad Yaqoob Mujahid, has travelled to Doha, Qatar, for talks with the Pakistani government. In the post, Mujahid stated that despite reserving the right to respond to Pakistani strikes, the Taliban leadership has called on its fighters to refrain from any new movements in order to preserve the dignity and standing of its negotiating team.
A senior Pakistani delegation is also traveling to Doha for the talks. On Friday, Pakistani forces had “conducted precision aerial strikes” in Afghan border areas targeting the Hafiz Gul Bahadur Group, a local faction linked to Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) — the Pakistani Taliban. The same group had been involved in a suicide bombing and gun attack at a military camp in the North Waziristan district that borders Afghanistan, which left seven Pakistani paramilitary troops dead.
When the truce began at 1300 GMT on Wednesday, Islamabad said it was to last 48 hours, but Kabul said the ceasefire would remain in effect until Pakistan violated it. However, borders remained calm after Pakistan’s precision strikes on Afghanistan, and no clashes have been reported at the Pakistan-Afghanistan international border.
Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif accused Kabul of acting as “a proxy of India” and “plotting” against Pakistan. “From now on, demarches will no longer be framed as appeals for peace, and delegations will not be sent to Kabul,” Khawaja Asif wrote in a post on X.
