Pakistan Defense Minister Says Multiple Negotiations with Taliban Failed to Produce Results

Pakistan's Defense Minister Khawaja Asif stated that Islamabad has held multiple rounds of negotiations with the Taliban over the past years but achieved no desired results in preventing cross-border attacks or curbing armed groups.

Speaking in Pakistan's National Assembly on Tuesday, Asif said political, military, and intelligence officials conducted extensive talks with Taliban officials without securing tangible outcomes. He noted that he personally traveled to Afghanistan twice, accompanied by the ISI chief, as part of high-level delegations.

Asif claimed Taliban officials agreed to Pakistan's demands verbally during the negotiations but refused to accept them formally in writing. Pakistan had demanded that the Taliban officially declare the TTP a terrorist group, dismantle its infrastructure, and provide practical evidence of these actions.

Asif said the Taliban requested ten billion dollars in financial aid from Pakistan during the talks. He linked Afghanistan directly to Pakistan's security issues, noting more than five hundred militant attacks in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa last year, an increase from the previous year.

Asif also criticized past Pakistani policies from the Cold War and U.S.-led war eras for their ongoing costs to the country.