US President Donald Trump
Credit: Reuters Photo
Islamabad/Kuala Lumpur,: US President Donald Trump on Sunday said he would get the conflict between Pakistan and Afghanistan “solved very quickly”, calling Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Army chief Asim Munir “great people”.
Addressing an event on the sidelines of an Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in Malaysia, he talked about the latest tension between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
“I know them 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,” he said.
When the fighting broke out between Pakistan and Afghanistan, the US president was quick to express interest in assisting with establishing peace, although he was at the time occupied with overseeing a hostage exchange between Hamas and Israel.
“I said, ‘I’ll have to wait till I get back. I am doing another one,’” he told reporters at the time. “Because I’m good at solving wars, I’m good at making peace,” the US President added.
Meanwhile, Pakistan and Afghanistan held the second round of talks in Istanbul to establish a joint monitoring and oversight mechanism to curb terrorist movements across the border, even as Islamabad warned that war was still an option if talks failed to address its chief concern about terrorism.
Dozens of soldiers, civilians and terrorists were killed in clashes earlier this month, creating a war-like situation; however, peace was restored temporarily on October 19 after the two sides held talks -- facilitated by Qatar and Turkey -- in Doha.
Defence Minister Khawaja Asif on Saturday warned of an “all-out war” with the Afghan Taliban if the talks failed, adding that the outcome of the negotiations would be known by tomorrow, if not today.