ISLAMABAD: Islamabad has agreed to extend peace talks with the Afghan Taliban in Istanbul at the request of its hosts, a security official said on Thursday, adding that negotiations would continue on Islamabad’s key demand that Kabul take “clear, verifiable and effective action” against militants using Afghan soil for attacks inside Pakistan.

Talks between representatives from Pakistan and Afghanistan, which were mediated by Turkiye and Qatar, began on Oct. 25 but ended without agreement earlier this week, with Islamabad accusing the Taliban administration of unwillingness to commit to rein in the Pakistani Taliban (TTP), a separate militant group hostile to Pakistan that Islamabad says operates with impunity inside Afghanistan. Kabul denies this and insists it has no control over the TTP, which has launched increasing attacks against Pakistani troops in recent weeks.

Negotiations opened after dozens were killed this month along the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan in the worst such violence since the Taliban took power in Kabul in 2021. Both nations agreed to a ceasefire brokered in Doha on October 19, but could not find common ground in a second round of talks.

“On the request of our hosts / friends, Pakistan has agreed to extend the dialogue process. Accordingly, the Pakistani delegation, which was prepared to depart, will now remain in Istanbul to resume the negotiations,” a Pakistani security official said, declining to be named. 

“The talks will be based on Pakistan’s central demand that Afghanistan take clear, verifiable and effective action against terrorists. Pakistan has once again stressed that Afghan soil should not be used for terrorism against Pakistan. We appreciate the constructive role of our hosts and remain committed to seeking a peaceful resolution in good faith.”

State-run Pakistan TV Digital, citing “well-placed sources,” also confirmed that the Pakistani delegation had decided to stay in Istanbul to resume talks on the request of Türkiye.

The decision to extend talks comes as Pakistani leaders delivered a series of strongly worded statements after the breakdown of talks. 

“We will carry out strikes,” Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaja Asif told reporters at Parliament House in Islamabad on Wednesday, when asked what options Pakistan would avail if cross-border attacks continued.

“We will certainly do it if their territory is used and if our territory is violated, if we have to go deep into Afghanistan to retaliate, we certainly will.”

The defense minister’s statement followed an earlier one on X on Wednesday, in which he warned that Pakistan would “obliterate” the Taliban if it did not curb militant activity. 

“Let me assure them [Afghan authorities] that Pakistan does not require to employ even a fraction of its full arsenal to completely obliterate the Taliban regime and push them back to the caves for hiding,” Asif wrote.

“If they wish so, the repeat of the scenes of their rout at Tora Bora with their tails between the legs would surely be a spectacle to watch for the people of the region.”

Asif’s reference to Tora Bora alluded to the US bombardment of Taliban and Al-Qaeda fighters in Afghanistan’s White Mountains in late 2001, when many militants fled into Pakistan following the fall of the Taliban regime after the September 11 attacks.

Asif also accused the Taliban of “blindly pushing Afghanistan into yet another conflict” to sustain a war economy, and alleged that archrival and neighboring India was exploiting divisions within the regime.

“The government in Kabul has been penetrated by India, and India has started a proxy war against Pakistan through Kabul,” he told a local TV channel on Tuesday.

Pakistan has long blamed India for backing militant networks, including the TTP, a charge New Delhi denies.