Mediated by Qatar and Turkiye, Pakistan and Afghanistan not only reached a ceasefire in Doha, both countries have subsequently also agreed in Istanbul to continue with the ceasefire for another week. The ceasefire agreement took place in Doha (Qatar) on October 19, whereas the agreement to extend the ceasefire took place in Istanbul 

(Turkiye) on October 30.

Qatar enjoys more influence on Afghanistan, whereas Turkiye claims more attention of Pakistan. This is an apparent perception. After reaching an agreement of truce in principle, both mediators (Qatar and Turkiye) have been trying to put in place a monitoring and verification mechanism which will ensure maintenance of peace, besides imposing penalty on the violating party. With these objectives in mind, the next round of peace talks will held again in Istanbul on November 06.

A couple of weeks ago, Pakistan launched air strikes on Kabul and other Afghan cities. This event was followed by deadly border clashes between the two countries. Pakistan had an upper hand because of its superior airpower and trained regular army, compared to Afghanistan’s ground only forces which were not trained to go beyond employing guerilla war tactics (hit and run) in a hilly terrain. They had no experience to confront an army trained to defend the plane land. Eventually, they suffered heavy casualties.

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In the engagement, Pakistan lost the image of a big brother who would look after interests of Afghans in the region. Never before had Pakistan invaded........

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