DOHA (The Thursday Times) — Pakistan and Qatar moved to deepen their security partnership this week, even as both countries push behind the scenes to keep a fragile US-Iran peace process from falling apart entirely.
Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi travelled to Doha for talks with his Qatari counterpart, Sheikh Khalifa bin Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, where the two sides agreed to strengthen cooperation on internal security, according to Radio Pakistan. Naqvi affirmed Pakistan’s commitment to enhancing ties with Qatar across security and other areas of mutual interest, while the Qatari interior minister said his country placed great importance on its relationship with Islamabad. The two ministers also touched on wider regional matters, exchanging views on “the prevailing regional situation and issues related to regional peace and stability,” the state broadcaster reported.
That broader context is no small footnote. Pakistan and Qatar have spent months as the lead mediators trying to hold together the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding, a 14-point framework that gave the US and Iran a 60-day window to resolve their outstanding disputes. The deal, signed last month, came apart once fighting between Washington and Tehran resumed in the Gulf. Two regional officials, speaking to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity given the sensitivity of the talks, said mediators from both countries were now racing to revive the framework and bring the war to a close.
There are signs the effort may be gaining traction. A three-day pause in hostilities preceded remarks from President Donald Trump aboard Air Force One on Monday, in which he suggested Iran had shown fresh appetite for engagement. “We’re having good talks, so we’ll see what happens. I think there’s a good chance that something could happen,” he told reporters. Iran, however, has denied that direct negotiations are currently underway, leaving the actual state of the talks unclear.
Pakistan’s role in this process dates back to the talks it hosted in Islamabad on 10 and 11 April, which Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar has described as the first direct contact between the US and Iran in 47 years. The Foreign Office has maintained throughout that Islamabad has not abandoned its mediating role, even as the ceasefire it helped broker came under repeated strain in the months since.
