By The South Asia Times

ISLAMABAD/KABUL — Pakistan and Afghanistan have accused one another after two days of mediated talks in Istanbul failed to produce a breakthrough on long-standing security concerns, officials from both sides said on Saturday.

"Representatives of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan — attending under direct instruction from their leadership — took part in the talks on November 6 and 7 “in good faith and with appropriate authority,” the Taliban’s spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said in a statement. He thanked Turkiye and Qatar for hosting and mediating the negotiations, but blamed the Pakistani delegation’s “irresponsible and non-cooperative attitude” for the talks’ collapse.

Mujahid said Afghan delegates had come hoping Pakistan would “approach the issue seriously and constructively” and present “realistic and implementable demands” after consulting their leaders. Instead, he said, the Pakistani side sought to shift all security responsibilities onto the Afghan government while showing no willingness to accept responsibility for either Afghanistan’s security or its own. “Despite the Islamic Emirate’s good intentions and the efforts of the mediators, the talks reached no outcome,” the statement said.

Pakistan’s information minister, Attaullah Tarar, meanwhile thanked Turkiye and Qatar for their mediation but insisted the onus was on Afghanistan to meet “long-standing international, regional and bilateral pledges regarding control of terrorism,” which he said Afghan authorities have so far failed to fulfil. Mr Tarar said Pakistan harbours no ill will toward the Afghan people but will not support any measures by the Taliban regime that he described as harmful to Afghans or neighbouring countries. He warned that Pakistan “shall continue to exercise all options necessary to safeguard the security of its people and its sovereignty.”

Both sides reaffirmed broad, opposing commitments: the Afghan Taliban regime pledged it will not permit Afghan territory to be used against other countries, and said it would defend Afghanistan’s people and land “with the help of Allah and the support of its people.” Pakistan, for its part, reiterated that it expects concrete steps from Kabul on counter-terrorism and that it reserves the right to protect its national security.

Turkiye and Qatar — described by both statements as “brotherly” mediators — played host to the talks but were not quoted in the statements released by either party. The failure to reach agreement leaves the central issues unresolved and underscores the deep mistrust between Kabul and Islamabad on security and cross-border militancy — the very matters the Istanbul meeting was intended to address.