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Newshour

Afghanistan and Pakistan in Doha for peace talks

Newshour

BBC

Daily News, News

4.21.1K Ratings

🗓️ 18 October 2025

⏱️ 42 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Afghanistan and Pakistan are in Qatar's capital Doha for peace negotiations. Pakistani jets conducted a series of airstrikes on Afghanistan's border province of Paktika on Friday, ending a brief lull in the intense fighting that broke out last week. Pakistan has accused Afghanistan of harbouring militants, which Kabul has denied.

Also in the programme: a new study shows how a blood test for more than 50 types of cancer could help speed up diagnosis; and thousands of people have attended a final public send-off for Kenya's former prime minister Raila Odinga who died earlier this week.

(File Picture: Vehicles loaded with the belongings of Afghan citizens at the border crossing in Chaman, Balochistan Province on October 16, 2025. Credit: Reuters/Saeed Ali Achakzai)

Transcript

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0:00.0

BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, podcasts.

0:09.2

Hello and welcome to News Hour from the BBC World Service coming live from London. This is Owen Bennett

0:16.1

Jones. When the Americans pulled out of Afghanistan in 2021, many in Pakistan's security establishment gleefully celebrated what they considered a victory.

0:28.6

Their sustained support for the Afghan Taliban over the years meant they now had reliable allies in government in Kabul.

0:36.0

Five years on, it looks very different. Over the last couple of

0:40.2

weeks, there's been fighting between the Afghan Taliban forces from the government there and the

0:44.8

Pakistan army. There is an attempt to calm the situation down, with delegations from the two

0:50.4

countries gathering today in the Qatari capital Doha.

0:56.3

But why are they fighting in the first place?

0:59.7

Talat Asain is an independent Pakistani journalist.

1:03.8

This is fighting on the border because border has become a banned through which terrorism is being sent into Pakistan.

1:08.1

The listeners can go back to the Doha agreement in 2020 under which the American

1:13.9

and allied troops withdrew from Afghanistan. And part of the Doha agreement states very clearly

1:19.4

that Taliban have to make sure that their territory is not used by foreign groups or any terrorist

1:26.2

groups. Now, that has not been happening.

1:29.3

2024 UN report tells you that there's a deepening cooperation between the terror groups,

1:35.5

including some of those that used to operate in Pakistan, but were hammered out,

1:39.0

using a foreign territory. And these attacks have really quadrupled in the last five years. Pakistan has lost

1:47.2

about 4,000 security personnel defending its territory. There have been no less than 10,000 terrorist

1:55.6

attacks inside Pakistan, 90% of which came from Afghanistan. So I think Pakistan is saying

2:00.2

enough is enough. We are knocking out

2:01.9

the infrastructure that supports these terrorist groups. So just to spell this out, the Pakistan

...

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