Journalism of Courage
Amid renewed border tensions between Afghanistan and Pakistan, US President Donald Trump on Friday claimed that resolving the conflict between the two neighbours would be “an easy one” for him to handle — if he had to.
Speaking to reporters during a bilateral lunch with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Trump said, “I do understand Pakistan attacked, or there is an attack going on with Afghanistan. That’s an easy one for me to solve if I have to solve that.”
Reiterating his self-proclaimed record as a global peacemaker, Trump added, “I like stopping people from being killed. I have saved millions and millions of lives, and I think we are going to have success with this war.”
His remarks came shortly after Pakistan launched a series of air strikes targeting what it described as terrorist hideouts in Afghanistan — a move that threatens to derail ongoing backchannel talks in Doha. The strikes reportedly followed a gun-and-bomb assault on a military facility in North Waziristan. The hostilities , which is going on for over a week have left dozens dead and hundreds wounded on both sides.
As Islamabad and Kabul traded accusations despite having extended their two-day ceasefire, Trump took the opportunity to boast about his previous diplomatic achievements — and to lament not being recognised by the Nobel Committee.
“You know we resolved eight others,” Trump said. “Every time I solve one, they say, ‘If you solve the next one, you’ll get the Nobel Prize.’ But I never do.”
He went on to refer to María Corina Machado, the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize winner, albeit without naming her. “I didn’t get the Nobel Prize. Somebody got it — a very nice woman, very nice, I don’t know who she is, but she was very generous. I don’t care about that stuff; I just care about saving lives,” Trump said.
Afghanistan and Pakistan are dispatching high-level delegations to Doha in a bid to defuse their most dangerous confrontation in years, following a temporary 48-hour ceasefire, brokered to halt the fighting, expired on Friday evening.
The Taliban government said on Saturday that its delegation will include Defence Minister Mullah Mohammad Yaqoob and the head of the national intelligence agency. Pakistan’s team was also scheduled to depart the same day, according to state broadcaster PTV, which did not provide further details.
Both governments accuse the other of triggering the hostilities. Islamabad alleges that militants based in Afghanistan are carrying out deadly attacks in Pakistan’s border regions — a charge firmly denied by the Taliban, which insists Pakistan is violating Afghan sovereignty.
Security officials in Islamabad told the Associated Press on Friday that Pakistani jets targeted militant hideouts in Afghanistan’s eastern Paktika province, specifically in Urgun and Barmal districts. They claimed the strikes, aimed at members of the Hafiz Gul Bahadur group, killed several fighters without causing civilian casualties. The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the operation was in retaliation for a suicide bombing that hit a security forces compound in Mir Ali, North Waziristan, a day earlier.
Afghan officials, however, reported that at least 10 civilians, including women and children, were killed in the strikes. The incident triggered widespread outrage in Kabul, with the Afghanistan Cricket Board announcing a boycott of its upcoming series in Pakistan.
Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban government’s chief spokesman, condemned what he called the “repeated crimes of Pakistani forces and the violation of Afghanistan’s sovereignty.” He said such attacks were “deliberate attempts” to prolong hostilities and warned that they could further destabilise the region.
