Saudi team likely to visit Afghanistan, Pakistan as attempts at mediating truce gain momentum: Report

New Delhi: Saudi Arabia has stepped up efforts at mediating a lasting truce between Afghanistan and Pakistan after several rounds of negotiations between the warring neighbours by regional brokers failed to identify the modalities for a ceasefire, said a report.

A delegation from Saudi Arabia is expected to visit Afghanistan and Pakistan for further consultations after an earlier attempt to mediate a ceasefire at Riyadh late last month failed to yield results, reported Tolo News on Tuesday.

While it is not yet clear when the Saudi delegation will visit Afghanistan and Pakistan, several sources speaking to the BBC on condition of anonymity said that during the recent talks in Riyadh, Afghan and Pakistani delegations committed to continuing the dialogue, the report added.

Amid rising tensions and recurring border conflicts between Kabul and Islamabad, neighbouring countries have increased their attempts at brokering peace between the two friends-turned-foes.

The initial meeting in Doha, mediated by Qatar and Turkey, on October 18-19 succeeded in the two sides agreeing to a temporary ceasefire, but two successive meetings held in Istanbul later failed to reach a consensus on the ways and means to achieve lasting peace.

Subsequently, Saudi Arabia had stepped in to broker a peace, with Iran also offering to mediate. Islamabad has repeatedly accused Kabul’s Taliban regime of providing space to Tehreek‑e‑Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and for coordinated cross‑border attacks on Pakistan.

Kabul has been reiterating its denial, accusing Pakistan of repeated territorial violations and displacing tens of thousands of Afghan refugees.

On terror attacks inside Pakistan, the Afghan Taliban has dismissed these as Pakistan’s internal problems, accusing Islamabad of conducting air-raids within its territory.

Meanwhile, Pajhwok news agency reported that 2,300 Afghan refugees “were forcibly deported from neighboring Pakistan and Iran in a single day”.

The report quoted a social media post by the Taliban administration’s deputy spokesman Hamdullah Fitrat as saying that according to the High Commission for Addressing Migrants’ Issues, 623 families, comprising 2,349 individuals, returned to Afghanistan on Sunday.

He also noted that on Saturday, an additional 3,134 Afghan refugees “were forcibly deported from Iran and Pakistan”.

The steady stream of Afghan refugees returning home has added to the problems that Kabul faces without adequate infrastructure and a financial squeeze from sanctions and in the absence of official global recognition.

The underlying tensions led to another disruption in the fragile ceasefire late last week with border clashes reported at the Durand Line between Pakistan and Afghanistan’s Taliban forces.

Most residents were said to have fled the Afghan city of Spin Boldak overnight, one of the border routes between the neighbours.

The reports said that while both sides confirmed having been involved in the exchange of fire, each blamed the other for initiating the overnight fighting that went on for about four hours.

All trade routes remain closed since the fierce firefight began almost two months back that the Afghan Taliban claimed was in retaliation to Pakistan’s aerial bombings. Islamabad had claimed the raids were targeted at terror leaders hiding inside Afghanistan. However, the alleged leaders resurfaced elsewhere.

IANS