\u2022 Trump, China offer to mediate; Russia welcomes \u2018stabilisation\u2019 of situation
\n\u2022 FO tells Kabul to \u2018mind own business\u2019 after Mujahid\u2019s comment on TLP protests
\n\u2022 Cross-border trade, travel remain suspended<\/p>\n
ISLAMABAD: US President Donald Trump and China offered to help de-escalate tensions between Islamabad and Kabul, even as Pakistan\u2019s defence minister termed the environment between both countries \u2018hostile\u2019, amid lingering tensions over cross-border terrorism.<\/p>\n
On Monday, troops stood on high alert, with border crossings closed for trade and travel after deadly clashes over the weekend.<\/p>\n
Fighting between the two sides erupted after Pakistan supposedly undertook an operation against militant hideouts along the Afghan border.<\/p>\n
Speaking on Geo News, Defence Min\u00adister Khawaja Asif said that as of today, there are \u2018no ties\u2019 between Islamabad and Kabul. \u201cIt\u2019s a stalemate right now. You can say there are no active hostilities, but the environment is hostile,\u201d he said, adding: \u201cThere are no ties, direct or indirect, as of today\u201d.<\/p>\n
The minister also said that hostilities between the two sides can resume \u201cat any time\u201d. \u201cWe can not rule that out, but there is certainly a lull in hostilities.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked if Islamabad would negotiate with Kabul, Asif replied that if Afgha\u00adnistan wants negotiations while threatening Pakistan at the same time, \u201cthen they should act on their threats and we\u2019ll negotiate after[wards]\u201d. \u201cThis is a natural thing. If you are attacked, you instantly have the right to react and target wherever the attack is originating from,\u201d the defence minister explained.<\/p>\n
At least 23 Pakistani troops were martyred and more than 200 Taliban and affiliated terrorists were killed in border clashes following an attack from the Afghan side late on Saturday night.<\/p>\n
Mediation offers<\/p>\n
For his part, US President Donald Trump appeared eager to ease tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan, saying he was \u2018good at making peace\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hear there\u2019s a war now going on between Pakistan and Afghanistan,\u201d Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One as he flew from Washington to Israel.<\/p>\n
\u201cI said, I\u2019ll have to wait till I get back. You know, I\u2019m doing another one, because I\u2019m good at solving wars, I\u2019m good at making peace,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
China, which shares borders with both Pakistan and Afghanistan, also expressed willingness to play a constructive role in improving relations between the two neighbours.<\/p>\n
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian on Monday voiced deep concern over the latest clashes, and similar sentiments were also shared by Russia.<\/p>\n
The Russian Foreign Ministry on Monday called on Kabul and Islamabad to exercise restraint. \u201cAccording to the incoming information, the situation is stabilising. We welcome this process,\u201d it stated.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u2022 Trump, China offer to mediate; Russia welcomes \u2018stabilisation\u2019 of situation \u2022 FO tells Kabul to \u2018mind own business\u2019 after Mujahid\u2019s comment on TLP protests \u2022 Cross-border trade, travel remain suspended ISLAMABAD: US President Donald Trump and China offered to help de-escalate tensions between Islamabad and Kabul, even as Pakistan\u2019s defence minister termed the environment […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12677,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12676","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pakistan-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12676","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12676"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12676\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12678,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12676\/revisions\/12678"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/12677"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12676"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12676"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weeklyyoung.pk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12676"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}