Pakistan threatens to 'obliterate' Taliban after peace talks fail

'The Afghan side kept deviating from the core issue ... on which the dialogue process was initiated,' Pakistan Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said on Wednesday accusing it of playing 'blame game'

Islamabad/Kabul: Pakistan's defence minister threatened on Wednesday to "obliterate" the ruling Taliban in neighbouring Afghanistan, a dramatic escalation of rhetoric after the collapse of talks towards a lasting peace between the South Asian nations.

Truce negotiations concluded in Istanbul without a "workable solution", Pakistan's information minister said early on Wednesday, in a blow for peace in the region after this month's deadly clashes.

Pakistan reacted with fury to the failure of the talks, which sources said ended with a disagreement over militant groups allegedly using Afghanistan as a base to attack its security forces along their border.

"Pakistan does not require to employ even a fraction of its full arsenal to completely obliterate the Taliban regime and push them back to the caves for hiding," Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said in a post on X.

The Taliban and Afghanistan's defence ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the remarks.

Talks aimed at preventing fresh clashes

Dozens were killed this month along the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan in the worst such violence since the Taliban took power in Kabul in 2021.

Both nations agreed to a ceasefire brokered in Doha on October 19, but could not find common ground in a second round of talks mediated by Turkey and Qatar in Istanbul, Afghan and Pakistani sources briefed on the issue told Reuters on Tuesday.

Each blamed the other for the failure.

"The Afghan side kept deviating from the core issue ... on which the dialogue process was initiated," Pakistan Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said on Wednesday, accusing it of engaging in deflection, ruses and playing a "blame game".

"The dialogue thus failed to bring about any workable solution," he added in a statement.

Afghanistan's foreign and defence ministries did not immediately respond to requests from Reuters for comment on the statement.

A Pakistani security source said the Taliban had been unwilling to commit to rein in the Pakistani Taliban, a separate militant group hostile to Pakistan that Islamabad says operates with impunity inside Afghanistan.

An Afghan source familiar with the talks said they ended after "tense exchanges" on the issue, adding that the Afghan side said it no control over the Pakistani Taliban, which has launched attacks against Pakistani troops in recent weeks.

The sources sought anonymity as they were not authorised to speak publicly.

Firefights with militants continue

The October clashes began after Pakistani air strikes this month on Kabul, the Afghan capital, among other locations, targeting the head of the Pakistani Taliban.

The Taliban responded with attacks on Pakistani military posts along the length of the 2,600-km (1,600 miles) border, which remains closed.

On Saturday, Pakistan's defence minister said he believed Afghanistan wanted peace but that failure to reach a deal in Istanbul would mean "open war".

Despite a ceasefire between Pakistan and the Taliban, weekend clashes killed five Pakistani soldiers and 25 Pakistani Taliban militants near the border with Afghanistan, the military said on Sunday.