Islamabad / Ankara, November 9, 2025: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Sunday announced that Türkiye’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, Defence Minister Yasar Guler, and intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin will visit Islamabad next week to discuss rising tensions between Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Speaking to reporters aboard his flight returning from Azerbaijan, Erdoğan said the high-level visit aims to help ease the situation following the breakdown of recent talks between the two neighbouring countries in Istanbul.
The negotiations, held under Turkish and Qatari mediation, collapsed on Friday without any agreement as both sides failed to bridge deep differences over mechanisms to monitor and prevent cross-border terrorism, officials confirmed.
Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif declared that the talks were “over” and had entered an “indefinite phase,” accusing the Afghan Taliban delegation of arriving in Istanbul “without any programme” and refusing to sign a written accord.
“Right now, as we speak, negotiations are over,” Asif told media. “They were unwilling to commit to anything concrete.”
A senior Pakistani security official also confirmed the deadlock, saying, “The talks in Istanbul are deadlocked.”
Despite the stalemate, a fragile ceasefire between Pakistan and Afghanistan remains in place for now. Asif warned, however, that any violation “will be met with a befitting response.”
The third round of Pakistan-Afghanistan dialogue began on Thursday in Istanbul and was scheduled for two days. Pakistan’s delegation, led by ISI Director General Lt Gen Asim Malik, included senior military, intelligence, and Foreign Office officials. The Afghan side was headed by General Directorate of Intelligence (GDI) chief Abdul Haq Waseq and included senior Taliban figures Suhail Shaheen, Anas Haqqani, and Deputy Interior Minister Rehmatullah Najib.
Reports from Istanbul indicated that the Pakistani delegation left the hotel for the airport after the talks broke down. Mediators from Türkiye and Qatar spent most of Friday engaging the Afghan delegation separately, relaying Pakistan’s evidence-based demands.
Foreign Office spokesperson Tahir Hussain Andrabi told reporters in Islamabad that Pakistan had presented its case in a “comprehensive and evidence-based manner.”
“Our delegation has handed over its justified and logical demands to the mediators with the sole aim of ending cross-border terrorism,” Andrabi said. “They are now discussing our concerns with the Afghan delegation point by point.”
The latest dialogue followed deadly border clashes in early October that left several soldiers and civilians dead on both sides. Earlier rounds of talks in Doha had produced a fragile truce and general commitments to develop a monitoring mechanism, but no enforceable framework.
Afghan negotiators, meanwhile, described Islamabad’s conditions as “unrealistic and aggressive,” suggesting they could be used as a pretext to “create further complications.”
A source present at the talks described the late-evening atmosphere at Istanbul’s Conrad Hotel as “not positive.”
In a related development, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi held separate telephone conversations on Sunday with his Pakistani and Afghan counterparts, Ishaq Dar and Amir Khan Muttaqi, to discuss the situation and offer mediation.
According to Iran’s state-run IRNA agency, Araghchi expressed concern over the escalating tensions and “emphasised the need for continued dialogue with the cooperation of influential regional countries.” He reaffirmed Iran’s readiness to assist in resolving differences between Islamabad and Kabul.
FM Dar, briefing Araghchi on the latest developments, underscored the importance of maintaining regional peace and stability. Both sides agreed to continue consultations in the coming days.
