KUALA LUMPUR: The United States President Donald Trump pledged to help resolve the ongoing conflict between Pakistan and Afghanistan “very quickly,” describing Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Chief of Army Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir as “great people.”
In this regard, the tensions between Islamabad and Kabul have intensified in recent weeks following a deadly escalation along the shared border. The clashes earlier this month left 23 soldiers and around 200 Taliban and affiliated militants dead.
The violence erupted after what Kabul claimed was retaliation for Pakistani airstrikes within Afghan territory. Furthermore, efforts to ease hostilities began with a round of talks in Doha last weekend, which resulted in a temporary ceasefire.
In this sense, both governments reportedly continued negotiations yesterday to reinforce the agreement and prevent further conflict. Moreover, President Trump addressed the issue and attended the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
He referred to the Pakistan-Afghanistan border dispute as “one of eight wars that my administration has ended in just eight months.”
“We’re averaging one a month. There’s only one left,” Trump said. “Although I heard that Pakistan and Afghanistan have started up, but I’ll get that solved very quickly.”
The US president expressed confidence in his ability to mediate the situation, saying,
“I know both the Pakistan field marshal and the prime minister are great people, and I know we’re gonna get that done quickly. That one started up a few days ago.”
However, Trump, who recently helped broker peace agreements between Pakistan and India, as well as Israel and Gaza’s Hamas, focused on his personal commitment to global peace efforts.
“I just feel it’s something I can do,” he told reporters. “If I can take time and save millions of lives, that’s really a great thing. I can’t think of anything better to do.”
Meanwhile, when fighting broke out between Pakistan and Afghanistan, Trump had expressed his readiness to mediate but noted that he was then occupied with overseeing a hostage exchange between Hamas and Israel.
