Overview
- Senior officials say Islamabad will pause efforts to cajole Kabul and let conditions evolve, describing earlier engagements as yielding no meaningful results.
- Pakistan wants international actors to stop pairing it with the Taliban, signaling it will no longer try to “deliver” Kabul on others’ agendas.
- Officials link the recalibration to Kabul’s failure to curb the TTP, following Pakistani strikes inside Afghanistan in October and reported border and trade restrictions.
- Three mediation rounds facilitated by Qatar and Turkiye, including talks in Istanbul on November 7, concluded without an agreement, according to Pakistan’s foreign ministry.
- Pakistani discourse now spans acceptance of India’s outreach to Kabul via Chabahar to opinion-page allegations of an “Indo‑Israel‑Afghan” nexus, which remain claims by commentators.