Overview
- China said Afghanistan and Pakistan agreed not to escalate and to keep talking after a week of mediated meetings in Urumqi.
- The three sides agreed to explore a “comprehensive solution” and named terrorism as the core issue straining ties.
- Afghanistan’s Taliban-run Foreign Ministry called the discussions useful and constructive and thanked regional states that helped arrange them.
- Pakistan’s military leadership signaled operations will continue until militant safe havens on Afghan soil are ended, with no public embrace of the talks’ tone.
- Weeks of cross-border fighting have displaced about 94,000 people in Afghanistan, and Kabul and Islamabad still dispute recent strikes and civilian harm.