ISLAMABAD: The third round of the Pakistan-Afghanistan talks aimed at ending cross-border terrorism and consolidating a fragile ceasefire will begin in Istanbul on Thursday, officials said.

Delegations from both sides arrived in Istanbul on Wednesday for the two-day negotiations being hosted under the joint mediation of Turkiye and Qatar. The talks follow weeks of shuttle diplomacy after deadly border clashes last month plunged relations between the two neighbours to their lowest point since the Taliban seized power in Kabul in 2021.

In this round, Pakistan’s delegation is being led by Lt Gen Asim Malik, director general of the ISI, and includes senior officials from the military, intelligence agencies, and the Foreign Office.

The Afghan Taliban’s delegation, meanwhile, includes General Directorate of Intelligence (GDI) chief Abdul Haq Waseq, Deputy Interior Minister Rehmatullah Najib, Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen, Anas Haqqani, Qahar Balkhi, Zakir Jalali, and Afghanistan’s chargé d’affaires in Ankara.

A diplomat from one of the mediating countries, while talking to Dawn on anonymity, said the two sides will review the implementation of the commitments reached during the previous round of talks and attempt to finalise the modalities for the monitoring and verification mechanism agreed in principle last week.

At the conclusion of the last round, a joint statement released by the Turkish foreign ministry had said that “all parties have agreed on continuation of ceasefire” and “to put in place a monitoring and verification mechanism that will ensure maintenance of peace and impose penalty on the violating party”.

The communique had further said that “the principals” from both sides would reconvene in Istanbul on Nov 6 to discuss implementation.

Despite the interim agreement reached at the previous round, officials in both capitals have kept expectations low about the upcoming dialogue.

Pakistani military and intelligence officials have stated that Islamabad’s position remains unchanged, that Afghan soil must not be used for terrorism against Pakistan.

“The Pakistan military and intelligence service have a single-point agenda — the end of terrorism,” military spokesman Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said earlier this week. Another security official, speaking on anonymity, said Islamabad seeks “concrete, verifiable guarantees”.

Earlier in the day, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said, “The delegation has gone today and the negotiations will begin tomorrow morning. Let’s hope Afghanistan makes use of wisdom and peace is restored in the region.”

Published in Dawn, November 6th, 2025