Pakistan Warns Afghanistan After Peace Talks Collapse: ‘We Will Gouge Their Eyes Out’

<p>Tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan have flared once again after a fresh round of peace talks collapsed in Turkey earlier this week. In a fiery statement responding to Kabul&rsquo;s warnings, Pakistan&rsquo;s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif issued a sharp and uncompromising threat.</p>
<p>&ldquo;If Afghanistan even looks at Islamabad, we will gouge their eyes out,&rdquo; Asif declared. &ldquo;There should be no doubt that Kabul is responsible for the terrorism in Pakistan.&rdquo;</p>
<p>His comments came shortly after he cautioned that the breakdown of peace efforts could push both nations to the brink of an all-out war.</p>
<h2>Peace Talks in Turkey End Without Agreement</h2>
<p>For three days, from Saturday through Monday, officials from Pakistan and Afghanistan met in Istanbul to seek a path toward de-escalation and long-term peace. However, despite intense deliberations, the talks failed to produce a concrete outcome.</p>
<p>According to reports in Dawn, negotiators from both sides managed to agree on &ldquo;most of the points,&rdquo; but they remained deadlocked over one critical issue: how to create a verifiable mechanism to act against militant groups allegedly operating from Afghan soil.</p>
<p>Sources familiar with the closed-door discussions told PTI that this unresolved point ultimately derailed the entire process.</p>
<h2>Islamabad Accuses Kabul of Evading Responsibility</h2>
<p>Pakistan&rsquo;s Information Minister Attaullah Tarar confirmed that the Istanbul talks &mdash; aimed at achieving a lasting truce &mdash; ended without any breakthrough.</p>
<p>&ldquo;The Afghan side kept deviating from the core issue, evading the key point upon which the dialogue process was initiated,&rdquo; Tarar said in a statement. &ldquo;Instead of accepting any responsibility, the Afghan Taliban resorted to blame games, deflection, and ruses. The dialogue thus failed to bring about any workable solution.&rdquo;</p>
<h2>Fragile Truce Now in Jeopardy</h2>
<p>Just weeks earlier, both countries had agreed to a ceasefire brokered in Doha on October 19, following deadly cross-border clashes that left dozens of soldiers, civilians, and militants dead. That fragile truce briefly restored calm &mdash; but the failure of the Istanbul talks has once again put the region on edge.</p>
<p>Sources quoted by Reuters revealed that each side has now blamed the other for the collapse of negotiations, despite mediation efforts led by Turkey and Qatar.</p>