Saudi Mediation Fails Again: Why Pak-Afghan Truce Talks Collapsed in Riyadh

"Sources have confirmed to Afghanistan International that a Taliban delegation has travelled to Saudi Arabia for talks with Pakistani officials. According to information received by Afghanistan International, these talks did not yield results and failed again," claimed a report on the media website that primarily covers news updates from Afghanistan.

However, there has been no official confirmation on the outcome of the latest round of talks being mediated by Saudi Arabia.

Earlier, negotiating teams from Afghanistan and Pakistan tried to address the issue in talks mediated by Turkey and Qatar, but failed to reach a consensus on the ways and means for a possible long-term truce.

The two nations share a volatile border which has been witnessing heavy fighting since more than a month, with Islamabad allegedly resorting to multiple air raids inside Afghanistan.

Islamabad has charged the Afghan Taliban regime of hosting elements hostile towards it and reportedly carrying out deadly attacks inside Pakistan's territory.

All this while, Kabul has been denying any hand at sheltering such groups and accused Islamabad of evicting Afghan refugees from Pakistan and driving them across the border in thousands to a country reeling under financial and infrastructural strains.

The initial meeting in Doha on October 18-19 succeeded in Afghanistan and Pakistan agreeing to a temporary ceasefire but two successive meetings held in Istanbul later failed to reach a consensus on the modalities.

Meanwhile, Afghanistan's Tolo News reported late November 30 that the contentious Durand Line border remained closed for "47 days" for trade crossings into Pakistan.

"Due to ongoing tensions between the two countries, there is still no sign of the routes reopening or the release of halted goods," it reported.

Afghanistan's Ministry of Economy "has once again urged neighboring countries to separate political issues from trade and economic relations with Afghanistan," it said, adding, "The Ministry emphasised that the closure of border crossings could cause significant economic damage to both sides."

It quoted the Pakistan-Afghanistan Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry having expressed concern, saying that the suspension of trade goods has caused substantial losses for traders in both countries.

Even at the height of fighting, despite the Pakistan-Saudi Strategic Mutual Defence Agreement, which Islamabad flouted as a major achievement from its foreign policy, Riyadh did not enter the conflict either militarily or diplomatically.

However, it has been calling the warring countries to show restraint and de-escalate prevailing tensions.

Incidentally, according to Islamabad, the defence agreement with Saudi Arabia included a binding clause for joining the other in case the partner is attacked by any force.

Additionally, an official readout on November 9 had said that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had announced that Turkey's Foreign and Defence Ministers, along with the Intelligence Chief were expected to travel to Pakistan that week (ending November 16) to discuss Islamabad's inconclusive ceasefire talks with Afghanistan.

That visit, however, did not happen, according to reports.

- IANS