By Mushtaq Ali and Sayed Hassib
PESHAWAR, Pakistan/Kabul, April 1 (Reuters) – Afghanistan and Pakistan have opened a new round of talks in China to end the deadliest fighting between two Muslim nations since the Taliban returned to power in 2021, sources said on Wednesday.
Beijing has been trying to mediate a negotiated settlement to the conflict, which has claimed heavy losses on both sides, although many more on the Afghanistan side, since Pakistan launched air strikes in late February.
Islamabad accuses the Taliban of harbouring and supporting Islamist militants who carry out attacks inside Pakistan. Kabul denies that claim, saying the militancy is Pakistan’s domestic problem.
The new round of talks coincides with Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar’s visit to Beijing to seek Chinese support for Islamabad’s initiative to broker a peace deal between the U.S. and Iran.
Foreign and defence ministry delegates from both countries have travelled to the northwestern Chinese city of Urumqi, four sources in Pakistan and Kabul said.
The four spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to disclose the information, saying the talks involved mid-level officials.
Pakistan’s foreign ministry and the Kabul administration did not respond to requests for comment.
The talks will focus on a potential ceasefire and on the reopening of border crossings to allow trade and travel, they said, adding that the new round of talks was a Chinese initiative.
“Our top leadership agreed with them and decided to participate in the process,” a Taliban leader in Kabul said.
Both sides traded heavy fire this week after a temporary ceasefire along their 2,600-km (1,600-mile) border.
The pause in hostilities was announced for the Islamic festival of Eid al-Fitr, and was also requested by Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, which Islamabad ended last week, saying it was responding to an attack from the Afghan side.
Afghanistan has not yet announced officially whether the ceasefire was still holding on its side.
Kabul said more than 400 people were killed in a Pakistani air strike on a drug rehabilitation centre in Kabul last month before the neighbours suspended the fighting. A Reuters reporter counted more than 100 bodies at one hospital after the air strike.
Pakistan has rejected the Taliban’s statements about the strike, saying it “precisely targeted military installations and terrorist support infrastructure”.
The Chinese mediation efforts come as Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, who hosted talks between Pakistan and Afghanistan during previous clashes in October, find themselves embroiled in the U.S. and Israeli war on Iran.
(Reporting by Mushtaq Ali in Peshawar, Sayed Hassib in Kabul; Writing by Asif Shahzad; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
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