Pakistan’s deputy prime minister senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar meets with Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, China. Photo: Reuters
Associated Press
Pakistan and Afghanistan held the first round of peace talks yesterday, with China mediating to broker a durable ceasefire after weeks of fighting, two Pakistani officials said.
But even as the talks were held, Afghanistan accused Pakistan of firing mortars into its territory. Representatives from the two countries were meeting in Urumqi, in northern China, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to brief the media.
The first round of talks concluded yesterday afternoon and were expected to continue on Thursday, they said.
China has not commented. Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs neither confirmed nor denied the talks were taking place. An Afghan official said the five-member Afghan delegation in Urumqi consisted of two officials from the foreign ministry and one each from the defence and interior ministries and from the country’s intelligence agency.
The official provided the information on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to disclose details to the press. The talks in Urumqi are seen as a potential relief for millions of people in Pakistan and neighbouring Afghanistan, the sources in Pakistan said, adding they may last for days and were only the beginning of a peace process between the two sides.
Farid Dehqan, a police spokesman for the eastern Afghan province of Kunar, said Pakistan had fired mortars into Afghan territory late yesterday, killing two civilians and wounding six others, including four children. He said the shelling was ongoing two hours after it started.
According to the sources, the latest round of talks began after both sides accepted China’s offer to mediate to end the fighting. The two sides will continue their talks today. China has urged both sides to resume dialogue since late February, and its special envoy met his Pakistani counterpart last month after visiting Kabul.
Pakistan accuses Afghanistan of providing a safe haven for militants who carry out attacks inside Pakistan, especially for the Pakistani Taliban. The group is separate but allied with the Afghan Taliban, which took over Afghanistan in 2021 in the wake of the chaotic withdrawal of US-led troops. Kabul denies the charge.
Pakistan’s former special envoy for Afghanistan, Asif Durrani, expressed hope that the talks, if officially confirmed, would lead to substantive progress.
