ISLAMABAD: Defence Minister Khawaja Asif has said that Pakistan-Afghanistan relations cannot return to normal unless Afghanistan stops backing the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan .In an

ISLAMABAD/ISTANBUL: Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif on Tuesday revealed that an agreement with Afghanistan was “within reach” during the second round of Istanbul talks but was derailed several times after the Afghan negotiators “backpedaled” following instructions from Kabul.

The Taliban’s hard-line government in Afghanistan is making major inroads in garnering legitimacy abroad. Despite its extremist policies, the international community has accepted that the Islamist group is here to stay,

As deadly border clashes erupted between Pakistan and Afghanistan in early October 2025, an image of a missile circulated online with users falsely claiming that it depicted a successful test launch by Kabul.

The second round of dialogue in Istanbul failed to “bring about any workable solution”, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said late on Wednesday after four days of deliberations. The statement was followed by strongly worded remarks by Asif, who warned Kabul of strikes deep in Afghanistan if terrorist activities continued to target Pakistan.

India threw its weight behind Afghanistan in the face of its border conflict with Pakistan and said Islamabad's efforts to "practice" cross-border terrorism with "impunity" is unacceptable to its neighbours.

Pakistan’s defense minister warned Afghanistan on Wednesday that any new “terrorist or suicide attack” by militants on Pakistani soil would draw a stern response, hours after talks between the two countries in Istanbul failed to secure a peace agreement.

United States President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly sought credit for resolving global conflicts, also waded in, saying he would “solve the Afghanistan-Pakistan crisis very quickly”, while speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN) summit in Malaysia earlier in the week.