Zalmay Khalilzad asks Islamabad to have fresh accord with Kabul

KARACHI: A day after the military’s chief spokesperson assailed the Afghan Taliban for not honouring their pledges in the Doha Agreement, one of the architects of that accord suggested that Pakistan should consider entering into a similar deal with Kabul.

Zalmay Khalilzad, who served as special representative to Afghanistan during the first Trump administration, tweeted on Wednesday that it was “a misunderstanding… to think that the agreement covered Afghanistan-Pakistan issues”.

In a post on his X account, he also attached the text of the agreement, which — among other things — contained a commitment to prevent the soil of Afghanistan being used by any group or individual against the security of the United States and its allies.

However, he posited that “a similar agreement between Afghanistan and Pakistan… would serve the interests of both countries”.

Expanding on the idea, Mr Khalilzad said that the accord should be one “in which both countries commit to not allow any individual or group including ISIS and TTP to use its territories to threaten the security of the other, and in which they accept third party monitoring of such.”

“Based on recent conversations with Taliban leaders, I believe they are prepared to negotiate such an agreement. And it could be game-changing for the relations between these two neighbours,” he wrote on X.

Mr Khalilzad, who facilitated negotiations between Kabul and Washington to secure the freedom of US citizens being held in Afghanistan, is viewed by both capitals as an invaluable interlocutor.

In Washington circles, Mr Khalilzad is viewed as a hawk. He openly sympathises with jailed PTI founder Imran Khan and has — in the past — reserved critical words for Pakistan.

Published in Dawn, January 8th, 2026



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