It is bad news for India as Pakistan and Afghanistan have agreed to continue a ceasefire between the two countries following a brief deterioration of ties and a brief conflict along their shared border earlier last month. That the Taliban rulers have failed to see through India’s lies, machinations and deceptions is a stark reality of geopolitics in the region.
A joint statement released by Türkiye, the host of the latest round of talks has stated “further modalities of the implementation will be discussed and decided” during a principal-level meeting in Istanbul on November 6. Recalcitrance was persisting on the Afghan side ever since the talks between the two neighbors began.
Fortunately, now it increasingly appears that sanity is gaining ground among the Taliban negotiators in the Turkish capital and the Taliban rulers in Kabul. Afghanistan, in my view, needs to realize that its adversarial stance towards Pakistan will only lead to adding to its global alienation despite a recent boost in Kabul-New Delhi relations.
It also needs to realize that Pakistan has always been principal source of wheat supply for the impoverished and not-too-impoverished, well-to-do and not-too-well-to-do Afghans. How can you bite the hand that feeds you?
Shaukat Mirza (Islamabad)
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
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