After peace talks between Pakistan and Afghanistan failed on Tuesday, a new report says that the failure was not India's fault—as Islamabad has claimed—but a secret drone deal with the US.
The disagreement reportedly arose after Afghan negotiators demanded a written commitment from Pakistan to prevent foreign drone flights over Afghan airspace—in addition to other airspace violations—in return for preventing anti-Pakistan militant groups from operating across the Pak-Afghan border, as per a TOLONews report.
Various Afghan media outlets had stated that Pakistan was hesitant to do so because of its agreement with a "foreign country".
According to Afghan news channels, Pakistan has acknowledged signing an agreement with a “foreign country” that permits drones to operate within its airspace for surveillance and potential strikes inside Afghanistan.
— Tameem Bahiss - تمیم باحث (@tameembahiss) October 28, 2025
The report claimed that this secret drone pact allowing drone strikes was with the United States, and added that Islamabad had said it could not break the agreement.
Pakistan's Defence Minister Khawaja Asif, however, has accused the Afghan side of making "venomous" statements, and has warned that his country did not even need "even a fraction of its full arsenal to completely obliterate the Taliban regime and push them back to the caves for hiding".
Asif also said on Geo News that India was "pulling the strings". However, Afghan media noted that he did not mention the Pakistani side's sudden change in stance during the negotiations.
The TOLONews report claimed that Pakistan, who had earlier shown some interest in the negotiations, suddenly changed their tune after a phone call, saying that they had no control over US drones, and could not take action against ISIS.
“It’s not entirely clear what each side’s intentions were. Was Pakistan genuinely seeking practical solutions, or was it trying to use the opportunity to appear as if it wanted to resolve the issues?” remarked Omar Samad, former Afghan ambassador to France.
