Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif on Wednesday issued a stark warning to the Taliban government in Afghanistan, saying Islamabad could “completely obliterate” the regime following the breakdown of peace talks in Istanbul earlier this week.
The minister’s comments come after Turkey- and Qatar-mediated talks between Pakistan and the Taliban ended without a resolution, dashing hopes for a durable truce after weeks of deadly clashes along the border.
“Pakistan does not require even a fraction of its full arsenal to completely obliterate the Taliban regime and push them back to the caves for hiding,” Asif wrote in a post on X (formerly Twitter). The account is currently withheld.
According to Pakistan’s Information Minister Attaullah Tarar, the negotiations “failed to bring about any workable solution” as the Afghan side “kept deviating from the core issue.”
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Tarar accused the Taliban of playing a “blame game” and refusing to act against militant factions using Afghan soil to launch attacks on Pakistani forces.
Talks collapse despite ceasefire
As per a Reuters report, the Istanbul discussions, which followed an October 19 ceasefire brokered in Doha, were aimed at preventing renewed violence after this month’s cross-border clashes that killed dozens. However, Afghan and Pakistani officials briefed on the matter told Reuters the two sides “could not find common ground,” particularly over Pakistan’s demand that the Taliban rein in the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) which is a banned outfit that Islamabad says operates freely inside Afghanistan.
A Pakistani security source said the Taliban delegation “remained unwilling to provide any assurance” about controlling the TTP. An Afghan source familiar with the talks confirmed that “tense exchanges” took place before discussions broke down, adding that Kabul maintained it had “no control” over the group’s cross-border attacks.
Both sources spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to comment publicly.
Fresh violence despite truce
Earlier in October, Pakistan carried out air strikes on Kabul and other Afghan locations targeting the TTP’s top leadership, prompting retaliatory attacks on Pakistani border posts. The 2,600-km border has since been sealed. Despite the ceasefire, Pakistan’s military said five soldiers and 25 TTP militants were killed in renewed clashes near the frontier over the weekend.
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On Saturday, Defence Minister Asif had cautioned that if the Istanbul talks failed, Pakistan would consider it “open war” with the Taliban government. The Taliban and Afghanistan’s defence ministry have not yet responded to Pakistan’s latest statements.
The escalation marks the sharpest downturn in relations between the two neighbours since the Taliban seized power in Kabul in 2021, raising fears of a broader regional conflict as militant activity surges across the border belt.
