DPM Dar terms Pak-Afghan Doha pact ‘first step in right direction’

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Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar on Sunday welcomed the recently announced ceasefire agreement between Pakistan and Afghanistan aimed at ending hostilities between the two countries, which have been involved in border skirmishes and strikes.

Reacting to the war between Pakistan and Kabul during talks in Doha, Qatar, DPM Dar said in a post on X, “The agreement finalized in Doha last night is welcome.”

“We look forward to the establishment of a solid and verifiable monitoring mechanism, at the next meeting, to be hosted by Turkey, to address the threat of terrorism emanating from Afghan soil towards Pakistan. It is important that all efforts are made to prevent any further loss of life.”

Pakistan and Afghanistan have recently been engaged in cross-border attacks due to illegal attacks by Afghan Taliban forces and Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) terrorists, prompting Islamabad to launch a counterattack with over 200.

A temporary truce between the neighbors – agreed to by Pakistan at Afghanistan’s request – on Wednesday halted days of intense fighting that left dozens and hundreds injured.

Meanwhile, reacting to the peace announcement, the Turkish Embassy in Pakistan said “both brotherly countries will continue to support efforts to achieve lasting peace and stability in the region”.

Since the clashes began, Pakistan and Afghans held talks in the capital Doha, where Defense Minister Khawaja Asif led the Pakistani delegation, while his Afghan counterpart, Mali Yaqoob, led her country’s delegation.

Sources said that senior security officials supported the talks along with the defense minister. Meanwhile, the Afghan Intelligence Chief was also part of the Afghan delegation.

Sources added that Pakistan told the Afghan delegation that the presence of militant groups in Afghanistan was “unacceptable”.

Defense czar Asif, in a late-night post on X, confirmed the ceasefire agreement under which “terrorism from Afghanistan on Pakistani soil will immediately cease”.

The minister also announced that the two sides would meet again in Istanbul on October 25, with Islamabad and Kabul agreeing to respect each other’s territorial sovereignty.

Pakistan has repeatedly urged the Taliban government in Afghanistan to prevent Afghan soil from being used by terrorists to carry out attacks inside Pakistan.

Since the Taliban rulers returned to Afghanistan in 2021, Pakistan has witnessed an increase in cross-border terrorist incidents, particularly in the bordering provinces of KP and Balochistan.

The two countries share an unsecured border that spans about 2,2500 km with several crossing points, which are important as an important element of regional trade and a vital element of people-to-people relations on both sides of the border.

In a post under the Information Minister, Information Minister Atullah Tarar said that Pakistan had also carried out “security strikes” on confirmed camps of the Gal Bahadur group in the border areas of North and South Waziristan districts.

“In these health strikes, [a] At least [of] 60-70 Kharjis [terrorists] The minister said, and his leadership has been sent to hell based on confirmed intelligence reports.

Tarar also noted that TTP-affiliated militants, aka Fitnah al-Kharj, and operating from Afghanistan, have attempted multiple terrorist attacks inside Pakistan, saying all such attempts were effectively foiled, which effectively responded to 100 national affiliates affiliated with Khajur.

On Friday, the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Field Marshal, while addressing the passing out parade of the Pakistan Military Academy (PMA) in Kakul, urged the people of Afghanistan to choose “mutual peace and security over violence” and said that the Taliban government should act decisively against the activities of terrorism from its soil.

The army chief said that “every state proxy of our neighbor will be crushed”.