Türkiye called on Pakistan and Afghanistan to return to the negotiation table regarding the recent tension between both sides, Turkish diplomatic sources said Friday.
Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan held a series of phone calls with several of his regional counterparts on Friday to discuss the recent tensions between Islamabad and Kabul and pledged to help facilitate both sides sitting at a negotiation table, sources said.
Fidan spoke separately with Pakistani Foreign Minister Muhammad Ishaq Dar, Afghanistan’s acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi, Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani and Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, the sources said.
The conversations focused on the latest tensions and diplomatic developments between Pakistan and Afghanistan, amid heightened regional attention to security and political dynamics between the two neighbors.
Pakistan and Afghanistan exchanged heavy cross-border fire on Thursday after Kabul launched retaliatory strikes against Pakistani military positions, prompting Islamabad to accuse the Afghan Taliban administration of “unprovoked action” and insisting its forces delivered an “immediate and effective response” across multiple sectors of the frontier.
Cross-border clashes intensified Thursday along the Pakistan-Afghanistan frontier, with both sides reporting military operations and casualties in some of the most serious fighting since recent tensions began to escalate.
The airstrikes follow months of hostilities between the two countries. The last serious flare-up was in October, after which a fragile cease-fire brokered by Türkiye and Qatar was reached.
In November 2025, Istanbul hosted the third round of Afghan and Pakistani delegations for high-level talks on a cease-fire agreement between the two neighbors.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry had previously announced that the session would bring together senior officials from both countries to address the unresolved issues. Neither side, however, has disclosed who will be representing them in Istanbul, and the lack of clarity has raised questions about the effectiveness of the dialogue.
The two-day talks in Istanbul, mediated by Türkiye and Qatar, were the third round of peace negotiations that were viewed as one of the most significant diplomatic efforts between the two neighbors since the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan 2021. Despite intense back-channel diplomacy, officials said discussions stalled late Friday without tangible progress.
Throughout the second round of negotiations, which took place last year, officials from both Kabul and Islamabad traded accusations of incompetence and inefficiency, further complicating the peace process.
The talks were marked by repeated deadlocks, though the two sides ultimately managed to agree on extending the cease-fire in place.
