Description: Afghanistan and Pakistan have concluded a long – term ceasefire agreement after a week of exchanging aerial and ground attacks in Doha. The ceasefire negotiations lasted more than 13 hours and were mediated by Turkey and Qatar which would remain guarantors for the implementation of the provisions outlined in the agreement. According to the essential points of the ceasefire agreement neither country would instigate nor support any kind of attacks on the other, while Afghanistan and Pakistan would jointly work towards disassembling the militant and separatist groups operating across the disputed border line. Pakistan’s Defense Minister, Khawaja Muhammad Asif and his Afghan counterpart, Mullah Muhammad Yaqoob announced that a comprehensive ceasefire agreement represented a baseline for restoring the previous state of bilateral relations and both would meet in Istanbul on 25 Oct for more detailed negotiations were crucial details would be ironed out.
Impact: The ceasefire agreement arrives as a result of enhanced diplomatic and mediating campaign by Qatar and Turkey which are emerging as major regional power brokers, having secured the fragile ceasefire in the Gaza Strip between Israel and Hamas. Going forward, both Afghanistan and Pakistan would have to devise joint mechanisms for countering armed insurgencies in the porous border line which are being used as proxy forces to incite conflict between the two countries. Afghanistan’s commitments would constitute in the Taliban government’s gradual disengagement from its terrorist and insurgent past while investing in nation building capacities to establish itself as the legitimate governing force in the country. Pakistan would have to focus on investing more in the expansion of its security and counterterrorism capacities and reestablishing intelligence capabilities through its ISI (Inter – Services Intelligence) which has been historically famous for infiltrating terrorist, militant and insurgent groups threatening the country’s national security. The ceasefire is expected to provide a solid basis for the development of a broader peace agreement. Both countries would have to invest substantial resources in maintaining the ceasefire and preventing the conflict to transpire towards a proxy border war.