Trump calls Pak-Afghan conflict ‘an easy one to solve’

As Pakistan and Afghanistan agreed to extend their 48-hour ceasefire today, US President Donald Trump weighed in on the conflict, calling it “an easy one to solve.”

“I do understand that 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 it,” Trump said, while responding to a journalist during a joint press conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

He said he enjoys resolving conflicts because he wants to stop people from being killed and claimed he has “saved millions and millions of lives.”

“The prime minister of Pakistan said I saved tens of millions of lives by interceding between Pakistan and India — that would’ve been a bad one, two nuclear nations,” he added, referring to this year’s May conflict between the two neighbouring countries.

Read More: Pakistan, Afghanistan extend ceasefire till conclusion of Doha talks

The US president’s statement came as Islamabad and Kabul mutually agreed to extend the temporary truce until the conclusion of planned talks in Doha, according to three Pakistani security officials and one Afghan Taliban source.

Diplomatic sources confirmed that the ceasefire was extended at Kabul’s request after the initial 48-hour truce expired at 6pm on Friday.

Meanwhile, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif warned Pakistan will not tolerate terrorism sourced from Afghan soil and vowed that its perpetrators — “wherever they may be” — will pay a heavy price.

In a post on X, Asif said that despite Pakistan’s sacrifices and repeated efforts over the past five years, Kabul had “not responded positively” and had effectively become a “proxy for India.”

He claimed that the terrorism confronting Pakistan today was the result of collaboration between India, elements in Afghanistan, and the outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).

“Kabul’s rulers — now sitting in India’s lap and allegedly conspiring against Pakistan — were until recently under our protection and moving freely on our soil,” Asif stated.

The minister said all Afghan nationals currently residing in Pakistan must return to their homeland, asserting that Afghanistan now has its own government. He said Pakistan’s land and resources belonged to its 250 million citizens and “the time has come to end five decades of enforced hospitality.”

He ruled out any further diplomatic delegations to Kabul and warned that protest letters or pleas for peace would no longer be Pakistan’s sole response. “Any source of terrorism — wherever it may be — will have to pay a heavy price,” he said.

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A temporary truce between the neighbours earlier this week brought a pause to days of fierce fighting that had killed dozens and wounded hundreds.

According to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the clashes began on the night of October 11–12 when Afghan Taliban forces, “supported by Indian-sponsored elements of Fitna al-Khawarij,” launched an unprovoked attack on Pakistan along the border.

The ISPR said that the Afghan Taliban “resorted to cowardly aggression” at four locations in Spin Boldak, which was “effectively repulsed” by Pakistani troops.

Read: Taliban regime not ‘true representatives’ of Afghan people: Foreign Office

“Eight posts, including six tanks, were destroyed in the effective yet proportionate response,” the military statement said, adding that between 25 and 30 Taliban and Fitna al-Khawarij militants were believed to have been killed.

Security sources told The Express Tribune that Pakistani forces carried out precision strikes inside Afghanistan’s Kandahar province, targeting key Taliban strongholds.

“The strikes completely destroyed the Taliban’s Battalion No 4 and Border Brigade No 6, killing dozens of foreign and Afghan militants,” one official said.

Following the intense clashes, both sides agreed to a temporary ceasefire to allow room for dialogue and to give the Taliban another opportunity to address Pakistan’s concerns.