Pakistan and Afghanistan hold peace talks in China

Diplomats from Pakistan and Taliban-ruled Afghanistan are holding direct peace talks in China after Beijing pushed for negotiations to halt “open war” between Islamabad and its one-time proxy.

Pakistan’s foreign ministry on Thursday said Islamabad had sent “senior official” representatives to the negotiations in Ürümqi, the capital of China’s western Xinjiang region.

The talks began on Wednesday, one day after Pakistani foreign minister Ishaq Dar met his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in Beijing.

Although that meeting primarily concerned the US-Israeli war in Iran, the officials also “exchanged views on Afghanistan and the importance of peace, stability and the critical importance of countering terrorism effectively”, Pakistan’s foreign ministry said.

The peace talks come after escalating tensions between Pakistan and the Taliban, the group that it once backed, erupted into outright conflict in February. Islamabad blames the Taliban for harbouring militant and separatist groups in its border areas that made last year the deadliest for Pakistani security forces in two decades.

The meeting also represents a diplomatic victory for Beijing, which has publicly called for “face-to-face exchanges” between Islamabad and Kabul over concerns about the escalating conflict on its western border.

Officials in Islamabad had resisted those entreaties, accusing the Taliban of using previous talks to buy time while militants including the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, to regroup and launch attacks into Pakistan.

The talks are the first face-to-face contact between the sides since they met in Riyadh in December.

“We demand that the Afghan Taliban take concrete steps against terrorists,” Pakistan’s foreign ministry spokesperson said on Thursday, adding that Islamabad was “actively engaging” with China on the situation in Afghanistan.

The Taliban did not immediately respond to request for comment.

Four rounds of peace talks in Qatar, Turkey and Saudi Arabia since October have failed to secure a sustainable peace, and Pakistan’s defence minister in February declared “open war” against the Taliban.

More than 200 civilians have been killed in Afghanistan in clashes in recent weeks, according to the UN, including more than 140 at a drug rehabilitation centre in Kabul last month. Pakistan has denied targeting the site.

The two sides announced a pause in hostilities for the Islamic holiday of Eid al-Fitr, which they said was in response to a request from Riyadh, Doha and Ankara.

But Pakistan’s foreign ministry said last week that operations against the Taliban and allied militants had resumed.

China, which shares a mountainous border with both countries, is a close economic and defence partner of Pakistan. It is also deepening co-operation with the Taliban, while urging the group to crack down on Uyghur separatists operating on its soil.