Pakistan threatens to 'obliterate' Taliban after peace talks fall apart

Pakistan's defense minister on Wednesday threatened to "obliterate" the Taliban, which controls neighboring Afghanistan, after negotiations toward lasting peace between the two sides failed.

Peace talks wrapped up in Istanbul, Turkey, without a "workable solution," according to Pakistan Information Minister Attaullah Tarar, which comes after deadly clashes this month. Dozens were killed along the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan in the worst violence in the area since the Taliban took control of Kabul in 2021.

Negotiations ended with a disagreement over terror groups allegedly using Afghanistan as a base to attack security forces along Pakistan's border.

"Pakistan does not require to employ even a fraction of its full arsenal to completely obliterate the Taliban regime and push them back to the caves for hiding," Pakistan Defense Minister Khawaja Asif said on X.

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The two countries agreed to a ceasefire brokered in Doha, Qatar, on October 19, but they could not find common ground in a second round of talks mediated by Turkey and Qatar in Istanbul, according to Reuters.

Both countries blamed the other for the talks falling apart.

"The Afghan side kept deviating from the core issue ... on which the dialogue process was initiated," Pakistan's information minister said on Wednesday, accusing the Taliban of engaging in deflection, ruses and playing a "blame game."

"The dialogue thus failed to bring about any workable solution," he said.

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A Pakistani security source told Reuters that the Taliban had been unwilling to agree to reining in the Pakistani Taliban, a separate terror group that Pakistan says operates without consequences from inside Afghanistan.

An Afghan source familiar with the talks told the outlet that negotiations ended after "tense exchanges" on the matter, noting that Afghanistan claimed it had no control over the Pakistani Taliban.

The Pakistani Taliban launched attacks against the Pakistani military in recent weeks.

The clashes began earlier this month after Pakistani air strikes targeted the head of the Pakistani Taliban in Kabul and other locations.

The Taliban retaliated with attacks on Pakistani military posts along the length of the 1,600-mile border that remains closed.

Pakistan's defense minister said on Saturday that he believed Afghanistan sought peace but that the failure to reach an agreement in Istanbul would mean "open war."

And despite a ceasefire between Pakistan and the Taliban, clashes over the weekend resulted in the killings of five Pakistani soldiers and 25 Pakistani Taliban members near the border with Afghanistan.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Blue Jays one win from World Series title after Trey Yesavage's dominant Game 5 performance

Trey Yesavage’s final start of a wild 2025 season, which began in Single-A ball to pitching his second World Series game for the Toronto Blue Jays, ends with a pivotal masterpiece.

Yesavage, the 22-year-old who worked his wall through the Blue Jays’ minor league system to eventually cement himself as a key member of this postseason run, delivered a seven-inning masterclass on the mound at Dodger Stadium to help Toronto defeat Los Angeles, 6-1, in Game 5 of the World Series. 

Thanks to the efforts of Yesavage, and some more timely hitting by this Blue Jays lineup, Toronto is heading back north with only one more win needed to win the World Series. 

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Yesavage struck out 12 Dodgers hitters and allowed just three hits and one earned run over a 104-pitch performance that saw 10 of those strikeouts in the first five innings of the contest. 

The only other person to do that in MLB history? Dodgers legend Sandy Koufax, who was right behind home plate watching Game 5 at Dodger Stadium. 

In Game 1, Yesavage didn’t have his go-to pitch, a sharp-dropping splitter, which forced him to use his slider more often than he was used to. As a result, he was touched up by the Dodgers, though the Blue Jays’ own offensive onslaught resulted in a Game 1 victory at home. 

This time around, Yesavage had the perfect touch with the pitch and the Dodgers couldn’t figure it out like the New York Yankees and the Seattle Mariners before them this postseason. Also, the slider was quite complementary with his mid-90s fastball keeping hitters honest at the dish. 

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And it also helped that Yesavage had some quick insurance on the scoreboard as his opponent, Blake Snell, allowed two solo home runs on the first three pitches of the game. 

First, it was Davis Schneider taking the first pitch he saw over the fence to set the tone immediately for Toronto. Then, Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s dream postseason continued as he belted his eighth home run this October to make it 2-0 in favor of the road team in this crucial Game 5. 

In the bottom of the third, Yesavage’s only blemish of the game came on a 2-0 count to Enrique Hernandez, who didn’t flinch at a splitter up in the zone. He turned and parked it, as the baseball flew over the left field fence and reenergized the Dodger Stadium crowd that had been lifeless since the Guerrero homer. 

But it didn’t last long, as the Blue Jays responded in the next frame. Teoscar Hernandez overplayed a Daulton Varsho hit to right field, and it cost him, as Varsho sprinted all the way to third base. Ernie Clement would hit a sacrifice fly to score him and take the two-run lead back. 

As Yesavage kept cruising, the Blue Jays widened the gap necessary to come away with the victory in the top of the seventh when Addison Barger scored on a single and three wild pitches, while Bo Bichette singled home Andres Gimenez to make it a 5-1 ball game. Isiah Kiner-Falefa’s single in the top of the eighth was added insurance, as Clement came across to score. 

With Yesavage’s night complete, Blue Jays manager John Schneider went to Seranthony Dominguez and closer Jeff Hoffman to shut the door on Game 5, and that’s exactly what they did to give themselves two chances at securing the franchise’s first World Series since 1993. 

Meanwhile, the Dodgers, winners of last year’s World Series, have their backs against the wall. They will need to win the next two games to retain their title, and they’ll have the right man on the mound for it. 

Yoshinobu Yamamoto seeks his third straight complete game, as he was a much-needed leader in Game 2’s victory for Los Angeles. He will face Kevin Gausman, who had a great performance until giving up some solo homers in Game 2 in Toronto. 

First pitch in Game 6 will come on Halloween night in Toronto at 8:08 p.m. ET.   

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