After five days of talks in Turkey, the two neighboring South Asian countries of Pakistan and Afghanistan have finally agreed to maintain the ceasefire.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry confirmed this information in a statement on Thursday (October 30).

The statement said that the representatives of the two countries will meet again in Istanbul on November 6 to discuss various conditions related to the ceasefire, and that the governments of Pakistan and Afghanistan will remain vigilant to ensure that there is no conflict until that meeting. Qatar and Turkey have taken on the role of mediators in this meeting.

Pakistan shares a 2,600-kilometer border with Afghanistan, known as the Durand Line. Relations between the two countries have been deteriorating since the Taliban government was established in Afghanistan in 2021 and are currently at their lowest point. The main reason for this is the pro-Taliban political group in Pakistan, the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

Joint Statement on the Talks Between Afghanistan and Pakistan Through the Mediation of Türkiye and Qatar https://t.co/y1SH30i88Q pic.twitter.com/wH4GW3SC9k

— Turkish MFA (@MFATurkiye) October 30, 2025

Although the Pakistani government has banned the group, it has survived and continues to operate. The TTP’s base is in the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which shares a border with Afghanistan. Since the Taliban took power in Afghanistan, Pakistan has accused the Afghan Taliban of harboring the TTP, a charge Afghanistan has consistently denied.

On October 9, Pakistan carried out an airstrike in the Afghan capital Kabul, killing TTP top leader Noor Wali Mehsud and second-in-command Qari Saifullah Mehsud, along with several senior leaders. Two days later, on October 11, the Afghan army attacked Pakistani military posts on the border, accusing Pakistan of violating Afghanistan’s sovereignty, and the Pakistani army began to retaliate.

After fighting until October 14, Pakistan and Afghanistan declared a 48-hour ceasefire on October 15. More than 200 Afghan soldiers and 23 Pakistani soldiers were killed in the conflict before the ceasefire.

The meeting of government representatives of Pakistan and Afghanistan began in Doha on October 18, which was later shifted to Istanbul, Turkey. The meeting began there on October 25. The meeting was on the verge of collapse on October 28, but it was averted due to the activities of the mediators. The meeting resumed on October 29, and the two countries reached a ceasefire on October 30.