Pakistan’s Defence Minister warned Afghanistan on Wednesday (October 29, 2025) that any new “terrorist or suicide attack” by militants on Pakistani soil would draw a stern response, hours after talks between them in Istanbul failed to secure a peace agreement.

Earlier this month, Pakistan’s military launched attacks on what it said were hideouts of the Pakistani Taliban in Afghanistan, killing dozens of people whom it described as insurgents. Afghanistan said the people killed were civilians and struck Pakistani military posts in response, claiming 58 Pakistani soldiers were killed. Pakistan’s military said it lost 23 soldiers in the border fighting.

The two sides agreed to a ceasefire brokered by countries including Qatar on October 19 in Doha, followed by four days of talks in Istanbul that ended inconclusively.

In a post on X, Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Mohammad Asif told Afghanistan’s Taliban Government that “any terrorist attack or suicide bombing inside Pakistan shall give you the bitter taste of such misadventures.”

There was no immediate comment from Kabul on the collapse of peace talks or on Mr. Asif’s remarks, but Afghanistan’s state broadcaster RTA reported that the negotiations stalled because of what it called “irrational demands” from Pakistan.

According to RTA, Islamabad sought assurances that no attacks would be launched from Afghan territory, while the Taliban delegation said the Pakistani Taliban, also known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, was an internal issue for Islamabad.

Pakistan has longed accused Afghanistan’s Taliban government of turning a blind eye to Pakistani Taliban and other militants operating from Afghanistan. Kabul denies the charge.

Pakistan has witnessed a surge in militant attacks, most claimed by the Pakistani Taliban, which is a separate group from the Afghan Taliban but and has been emboldened since the latter returned to power in Kabul in 2021. Many Pakistani Taliban leaders and fighters have been living in Afghanistan since then.

Mr. Asif in a strongly-worded tweet also accused Kabul of “blindly pushing Afghanistan into yet another conflict” to preserve what he described as its “usurped rule and war economy.”

“Let me assure them that Pakistan does not require to employ even a fraction of its full arsenal to completely obliterate the Taliban regime and push them back to the caves for hiding,” he said.

Despite the failure of the talks, a ceasefire remained in place, and no new clashes were reported along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. Both countries have shut all major crossings, leaving hundreds of trucks carrying goods and refugees stranded on both sides.

At the Chaman border crossing in southwestern Balochistan province in Pakistan, hundreds of Afghan refugee families and traders voiced frustration and anxiety over the failed talks.

“We came to know that the talks failed,” said Ajab Khan, an Afghan refugee waiting in a long queue of trucks loaded with household goods. “Now we are going back to Afghanistan, but it’s a scary situation. We don’t know how we will survive there.”

Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif on Monday (October 20, 2025) said the ceasefire arrangement with Afghanistan hinges on Taliban’s commitment to rein in terrorists attacking his country from across the border.

His statement comes a day after both sides agreed on a ceasefire following talks in Doha, which were facilitated by Qatar and Turkiye.

“Anything coming from Afghanistan will be [a] violation of this agreement,” Asif was quoted as saying Dawn. “Everything hinges on this one clause.”

He said that in the agreement signed by Pakistan, Afghanistan, Turkiye and Qatar, “it was clearly spelled out that there would not be any incursions”.

“We have a ceasefire agreement as long as there is no violation of the agreement which is already in force,” he said.

Mr. Asif has said that the primary objective of the ceasefire agreement between Pakistan and Afghanistan is to eliminate the menace of terrorism.

According to state-run Radio Pakistan, in an interview with Al-Jazeera Arabic, the minister said that terrorism has been affecting border areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan for years.

He said that both countries have reached the conclusion that immediate elimination of terrorism is essential and the two countries will make serious efforts to curb terrorism, otherwise, regional peace could face serious threats.

Mr. Asif said another meeting will be held next week in Istanbul to finalize the details of the agreement.

He said Afghan Defence Minister Mullah Yaqoob acknowledged that terrorism is the main reason behind the tensions in our relations, which will now be addressed.

He hoped that peace will now return, and relations will normalize between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

As a result, Pakistan-Afghanistan trade and transit will also resume, and Afghanistan will be able to use Pakistani ports.

Relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan have remained strained since 2023, with Islamabad repeatedly raising concerns over the use of Afghan soil by militants carrying out cross-border attacks.

The situation further deteriorated following repeated terrorist attacks by TTP, including one in the restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Orakzai district recently, which claimed the lives of 11 military personnel, including a Lt Colonel and a Major.