Pakistan-Afghanistan talks waste of time if no progress: Asif

ISLAMABAD: Defence Minister Khawaja Asif on Wednesday hoped that there would be some progress in Pakistan-Afghanistan talks, but also noted that the entire exercise would be waste of time in case there was no headway.

Talking to media, Asif said the Pakistani delegation had left for Istanbul where the two sides would start the third round of dialogue.

In this connection, he advised the Taliban regime to show prudence to achieve regional peace — the comments with reference to the fact that the Afghanistan-based terrorist groups a threat to not only Pakistan but also other countries.

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WHAT HAS HAPPENED SINCE THE PRECISION STRIKES?

Pakistan has been pressing ahead with one-point agenda: the Taliban regime must act against the terrorist groups — TTP, BLA and others — operating from Afghanistan.

Read more: Act against terrorists or hand them over to Pakistan: ISPR

The previous two were held in Doha and Istanbul respectively after the Afghan Taliban sought a ceasefire, asking Qatar to intervene as Pakistan carried out precision strikes on terrorist centres in Afghanistan in reply to the aggression along its western border.

Qatar and Turkiye are acting as mediators in the process.

The first round of talks in Doha resulted in an immediate ceasefire while the six-day long dialogue in Istanbul produced a joint statement which mentioned: “All parties have agreed to put in place a monitoring and verification mechanism that will ensure maintenance of peace and imposing penalty on the violating party”.

Previously, Asif said “TTP is Kabul’s proxy and Afghanistan is a proxy of India”.

Read more: TTP is Afghanistan’s proxy and Afghanistan of India: Khawaja Asif

He noted that there was no more any ambiguity about the Afghan policy of Pakistan. “Situation is clear. We now know who is [our] enemy and who is enemy.”