China says Afghanistan and Pakistan agree to avoid escalation after talks in Urumqi

# China says Afghanistan and Pakistan agree to avoid escalation after talks in Urumqi

*By IO Digest Desk*

China says Afghanistan and Pakistan have agreed to avoid any escalation in their conflict after a week of informal meetings in Urumqi, Xinjiang, according to AFP via The Straits Times. The talks, held from April 1 to April 7, 2026, were described by Beijing as pragmatic discussions in a positive atmosphere.

The announcement is important because it gives public shape to a diplomatic process that had previously been reported but not officially confirmed by Beijing. Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said the three delegations from China, Afghanistan and Pakistan had met in an informal format and discussed how to prevent the situation from worsening.

The core issue behind the talks is longstanding. Pakistan has accused Afghanistan of sheltering militants responsible for cross-border attacks, while the Taliban government denies those claims. That dispute has helped drive military confrontation and repeated calls for a mechanism to reduce violence along the border.

The AFP report says hostilities escalated sharply at the end of February, when Pakistani air strikes were followed by an Afghan ground offensive, and that a Pakistani strike on a hospital in Kabul on March 16 killed hundreds of civilians. Those incidents frame the talks as an attempt to stop a cycle of retaliation that had already produced severe humanitarian and political fallout.

According to Mao Ning, the parties committed to resolving their differences as soon as possible and to returning bilateral relations to normal. She said they also agreed not to take any actions that would escalate or complicate the situation. That language is significant because it is specific enough to indicate a shared political intention, even if it stops short of a formal treaty or ceasefire mechanism.

The report notes that a truce during the Eid al-Fitr holiday ended on March 24, after which the land border between Pakistan and Afghanistan remained almost completely closed. That border closure has had major economic consequences, adding trade pressure to an already tense security environment.

What remains unclear is how durable the agreement will be. Informal talks can reduce immediate friction, but they do not substitute for a binding settlement. The report does not say whether any follow-up meetings have been scheduled or whether a direct communication channel has been established between the two governments.

Still, the Urumqi meetings matter because they indicate that China believes the two neighbors are willing to talk under its auspices. Beijing's role also highlights its broader regional influence, especially when border stability affects trade, security and its own diplomatic standing.

The verified facts are therefore modest but meaningful: China says a week of informal meetings took place, Afghanistan and Pakistan agreed not to escalate, and the immediate backdrop remains a violent border dispute with large humanitarian and economic costs.