Riyadh quietly ‘mediates’ talks between Pakistan & Afghanistan

ISLAMABAD:  Saudi Arabia quietly facilitated a round of direct talks between Pakistan and Afghanistan aimed at easing tensions over cross-border terrorism, but the discussions wrapped up late on Sunday without any breakthrough, a media outlet reported.

The closed-door session in Riyadh ended with both sides holding firm to their longstanding positions and showing little willingness to compromise, the sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the talks were not publicly acknowledged.

Another Saudi-hosted round remains possible in the near future.

The Riyadh engagement, which took place as a separate track co-mediated by Turkiye and Qatar remains stalled. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had earlier announced plans to dispatch a delegation to Pakistan, but the visit has yet to materialise.

The Turkiye-Qatar initiative produced a fragile ceasefire after clashes in early October, though Foreign Office spokesperson Tahir Andrabi said at a weekly briefing on Friday that the truce had faltered because it hinged on a halt to terrorist activities. The delegations in Riyadh were largely the same teams that participated in previous rounds in Istanbul, the sources noted, saying, for instance Pakistani delegation included a diplomat from the Foreign Office.

During the talks, Saudi officials suggested that Pakistan consider allowing the resumption of bilateral trade while discussions on cross-border terrorism continue, but Islamabad declined the proposal.

Pakistan’s bilateral relations with Afghanistan have come under strain in recent times as the banned terrorist Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) group remains the main point of contention between the two countries. Monitoring Desk