ISLAMABAD: Saudi Arabia quietly orchestrated a high-stakes direct dialoguebetween Pakistan and the Afghan Taliban in Riyadh over the weekend in a bidto defuse escalating border tensions triggered by a surge in cross-borderterrorism, multiple sources confirmed on Monday. The closed-door meeting,which remained unacknowledged by all three governments, collapsed lateSunday night without any tangible agreement after Pakistani officialsdelivered an uncompromising ultimatum.
According to two well-placed sources who spoke on condition of anonymity,Pakistan laid down two non-negotiable demands: the Afghan Taliban mustimmediately crack down on the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP),Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) and Islamic State Khorasan Province(IS-KP), or face serious consequences. The sources described the tone fromthe Pakistani side as unusually blunt, leaving little room for ambiguity.
The Riyadh session marks the first known direct engagement betweenIslamabad and Kabul since bilateral relations hit rock bottom followingrepeated TTP attacks inside Pakistan. It also highlights Saudi Arabia’sgrowing role as a discreet mediator in the region, stepping in after theTurkey-Qatar mediation track effectively stalled.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had publicly announced plans todispatch a high-level delegation to Pakistan, but the visit nevermaterialised. A fragile ceasefire brokered through Ankara and Doha afterdeadly October clashes crumbled within weeks, with Foreign Office spokesmanTahir Andarabi openly stating last week that terrorist activity neverceased.
Sources revealed that the Pakistani delegation in Riyadh largely mirroredthe team that attended earlier Istanbul rounds, including a senior ForeignOffice diplomat. Saudi hosts proposed linking any progress on security withthe immediate reopening of bilateral trade routes, a suggestion Islamabadcategorically rejected until concrete action is taken against terroristsanctuaries.
Despite the abrupt end, both sides left the door open for anotherSaudi-hosted round in the coming weeks, though no dates have been fixed.The deliberate decision to keep the entire engagement under wraps, atRiyadh’s request, underscores the extreme sensitivity surrounding anydirect Pakistan-Afghanistan contact at this juncture.
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The failed talks come against the backdrop of near-daily terroristincidents in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, with security forcesreporting over forty major attacks since October that authorities directlyattribute to Afghanistan-based militants.
Source: www.dawn.com/news/1875432″>https://www.dawn.com/news/1875432
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