Trump 'peacemaker' Offers Mediation, Afghan-Pakistan Officials Continue Peace Talks

JAKARTA - Afghan and Pakistani officials will meet in Istanbul on Monday for the third day of negotiations after failing to achieve lasting peace. On the other hand, US President Donald Trump repeated the mediation offer.

The two neighboring South Asian countries agreed to a ceasefire in Doha on October 19 after days of border clashes that killed dozens of people in the worst violence since the Taliban seized power in Kabul in 2021.

Turkey's second round of peace negotiations currently aims to reach a long-term ceasefire, but both sides have provided a very different interpretation of the negotiations.

Two Pakistani security sources have accused the Afghan Taliban of not cooperating in the dialogue process.

"The Pakistan delegation has confirmed that there is no possible compromise regarding our core demands regarding cross-border terrorism," said one source.

A Taliban delegation in the negotiations dismissed the assumption that the Islamist group was hampering negotiations. The discussion was confirmed to be still ongoing.

"Overall, the meeting went well and we discussed various issues in a friendly atmosphere," said the source.

The sources spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.

In comments to state broadcaster RTA on Monday, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said, "Afghan Islamic emirate supports dialogue and believes that issues and issues can be resolved through dialogue."

A spokesman for Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs declined to comment on the current status of negotiations.

On Saturday last week, Pakistan's Defense Minister said he believed Afghanistan wanted peace, but failure to reach an agreement in Istanbul negotiations would mean an "open war".

On Sunday evening, Trump, nicknamed the White House as Peacemaker, repeated his offer to help end the conflict.

"I will finish it very quickly, I know both of them," he said in Malaysia's capital, Kuala Lumpur, on the sidelines of a regional summit.

"I'm sure we will finish it quickly," he said.

Clashes between the two countries began after this month's Pakistani airstrikes in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, targeted a leader of the Pakistani Taliban, a separate militant group from the Taliban that rules Afghanistan.

The Taliban responded with attacks on Pakistani military posts along the 2,600 km (1,600 miles) border.

Pakistan accused the Taliban of allowing the Pakistani Taliban to operate without punishment in Afghanistan, from which they launched an attack on Pakistani security forces. Kabul denies it.

Clashes between Pakistan and the Pakistani Taliban over the weekend killed five Pakistani soldiers and 25 militants near the border with Afghanistan, the military said on Sunday.