WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump said Saturday he had called off a secret summit with the Taliban and Afghanistan’s leader, abruptly slamming the door on a year of diplomacy to end America’s longest war.
In a Saturday evening bombshell, Trump said that he had planned unprecedented, albeit separate, talks with the two sides Sunday in Camp David, the presidential retreat in Maryland, but that the Taliban’s persistent, grisly campaign of violence made them untrustworthy partners.
“Unbeknownst to almost everyone, the major Taliban leaders and, separately, the President of Afghanistan, were going to secretly meet with me at Camp David on Sunday,” Trump said in a tweet.
“Unfortunately, in order to build false leverage, they admitted to an attack in Kabul that killed one of our great great soldiers, and 11 other people. I immediately canceled the meeting and called off peace negotiations.”
“What kind of people would kill so many in order to seemingly strengthen their bargaining position? They didn’t, they only made it worse!” Trump said.
A US soldier and another service member from Romania were killed in the car bombing Thursday in Kabul — the latest major attack claimed by the Taliban even as they negotiated with a US envoy on the withdrawal of thousands of troops.
Trump would have met the Taliban at Camp David — scene of secret 1978 talks as Jimmy Carter brokered peace between Israel and Egypt — days before the 18th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, which triggered the US invasion that toppled the militants’ regime.
Washington was jolted by the announcement from Trump, who is fond of dramatic gestures but whose Twitter pronouncements have often come into question later.
“The idea that Trump was planning to host Taliban leaders at Camp David is a rather big surprise,” said Laurel Miller, who served as the US special representative on Afghanistan and Pakistan until early in the Trump administration.
“Why a lethal attack in Kabul on Thursday would be the reason for calling it off, considering the multiple recent Taliban attacks, is unclear,” Miller, now the Asia director of the International Crisis Group, told AFP.
Congressman Tom Malinowski, a Democrat who has been pressing for clarity on the US strategy in Afghanistan, called the idea of Taliban leaders at Camp David “weird.”
“And everyone knew they’ve been continuously committing terrorist attacks. But I’m glad the president called off this farce, and hope this good decision sticks,” Malinowski tweeted.
The announcement by tweet appears abruptly to end, at least for now, a painstaking diplomatic process led for nearly a year by Zalmay Khalilzad, the Afghan-born veteran US diplomat who held nine rounds of talks with the Taliban, usually in Qatar.
Afghanistan’s internationally recognized president, Ashraf Ghani, had been outspoken in his criticism of the emerging shape of the withdrawal agreement with the Taliban, who have refused to negotiate with his government.
Selling the plan in Kabul, Khalilzad said that he had reached an agreement “in principle” with the Taliban — who ruled much of Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001 during which they imposed a draconian version of Islam.
According to parts of the draft deal that had been made public, the Pentagon would pull about 5,000 of the roughly 13,000 US troops from five bases across Afghanistan by early next year.
The insurgents in turn would renounce Al-Qaeda, promise to fight the Daesh group and stop jihadists using Afghanistan as a safe haven — the primary reason for the 2001 invasion.
US public opinion has soured on nearly two decades of war and Trump, after initially being persuaded to reinforce US troops, has said that the United States should not pursue “endless” war.
Trump’s announcement draws a fresh question mark on whether the United States will leave Afghanistan anytime soon.
The decision comes weeks before Afghanistan is set to hold elections, an unwieldy exercise even in more stable times.
Trump had been uncharacteristically reticent about Afghanistan in recent weeks, with all eyes on whether he would approve a final deal.
Washington had hoped that a withdrawal of US troops would lead to negotiations between the Taliban and Kabul on a more permanent peace.
The Taliban have shown no signs of letting up on violence. Claiming responsibility for Thursday’s bombing, which shook a fortified central area of Kabul, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said that a “martyrdom seeker” — or suicide bomber — had killed “foreign invaders.”
Trump has walked away from high-stakes talks before. In February, his aides pressed him not to accept a deal in Hanoi with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un — another individual whom it would have long been unthinkable for a US president to meet.
But Trump soon made clear that he wanted to keep talking, calling Kim a friend, and arranged to meet him in June as the US leader visited the Korean peninsula.
In bombshell, Trump calls off secret summit, talks with Taliban
In bombshell, Trump calls off secret summit, talks with Taliban
- US president wanted to host Taliban delegation at Camp David but changed his mind after attack in Kabul
- Afghan President Ashraf Ghani had been outspoken in his criticism of America’s withdrawal agreement with Taliban
US envoy highlights support for Pakistan’s economic reforms agenda in meeting with finmin
- Washington committed to working with Pakistan in technical, development-related initiatives, says US embassy
- Pakistan has vowed to undertake vital economic reforms recommended by IMF in exchange for a larger loan program
ISLAMABAD: United States Ambassador Donald Blome on Monday highlighted Washington’s ongoing support for Pakistan’s economic reforms agenda in a meeting with Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb, the US embassy said in a statement, as Islamabad seeks a larger loan program from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to stabilize its fragile economy.
Reeling from low foreign exchange reserves, massive currency devaluation and high inflation since the past two years, Pakistan faces a chronic balance of payment crisis. The South Asian country last month completed a short-term $3 billion IMF loan program that helped it avert a sovereign default. However, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif continues to stress the need for longer-term program from the international lender to stabilize Pakistan.
The IMF has pressed upon Islamabad to undertake vital economic reforms which include overhauling loss-making state-owned enterprises, introducing tax, energy and power reforms in exchange for a fresh loan program.
Pakistan views the US as a key ally that can help alleviate its economic crisis, considering its huge influence within the IMF.
“US Ambassador Donald Blome met today with Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb to discuss key aspects of the US-Pakistan trade, investment, and economic relationship,” US Mission Spokesperson Thomas Montgomery said on Monday.
“The Ambassador highlighted ongoing US support for Pakistan’s economic reform agenda.”
The US embassy said Washington was committed to working with Pakistan in technical and development-related initiatives. It added that Blome emphasized in the meeting how the US remained Pakistan’s largest export market, making it a major source of high-quality investment and a “strong partner” for Pakistan’s economic future.
Pakistan’s economy has recorded some gains since last year when it narrowly avoided a sovereign default, with inflation coming down to around 17 percent in April 2024 from a record high of 38 percent in May 2023.
However, the South Asian country is still dealing with a high fiscal shortfall and while it has controlled its external account deficit through import control mechanisms, it has come at the expense of stagnating growth, which is expected to be around 2 percent this year, compared to negative growth last year.
Ties between Islamabad and Washington, once close allies, have recently started to improve after years of frosty relations, mostly due to America’s concerns about Pakistan’s alleged support of the Taliban in Afghanistan. Pakistan denies it supported the armed group in taking over the country.
Relations strained further under the government of former prime minister Imran Khan, who ruled from 2018-22 and antagonized Washington throughout his tenure, welcoming the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in 2021. Khan later accused Washington of being behind attempts to oust him, allegations which Washington has repeatedly denied.
The previous government of PM Sharif that took over after Khan in 2022 and whose term ended last year, had tried to mend ties but analysts widely believe the United States will not seek a significant broadening of ties with Islamabad in the near future but remain mostly focused on security cooperation, especially on counterterrorism and Afghanistan.
Pakistan arrests 33 for attacking Christians over alleged desecration of Qur’an
- Mob went on rampage Saturday after locals saw burnt pages of holy Qur’an outside Christian men’s house
- Enraged mob set fire to Christian father and son’s house and shoemaking factory in Sargodha district
LAHORE: Police in eastern Pakistan arrested dozens of Muslim men and charged them with attacking a Christian father and son on allegations of desecrating pages of Islam’s holy book, officials said Monday.
The mob went on a rampage Saturday after locals saw burnt pages of the Qur’an outside the two Christian men’s house and accused the son of being behind it, setting their house and shoemaking factory on fire in the city of Sargodha in Punjab province, said senior police officer Asad Ijaz Malhi. They also beat up the son.
Malhi said police forces rescued the two wounded men and transported them to a hospital where they were in stable condition, and that at least 33 men were arrested following multiple police raids. Authorities were chasing others who may be involved in the attack, he said.
The blaze fully incinerated the factory and parts of the house, residents and the police said.
Punjab police said in a statement it beefed up security at churches.
Blasphemy accusations are common in Pakistan and under the country’s blasphemy laws, anyone found guilty of insulting Islam or Islamic religious figures can be sentenced to death. While no one has been executed on such charges, often just an accusation can cause riots and incite mobs to violence, lynching and killings.
The latest violence, however, brought back memories of one of the worst attacks on Christians in Pakistan in August 2023, when thousands of people set churches and homes of Christians on fire in Jaranwala, a district in Punjab province.
Muslim residents at the time also claimed they saw two men desecrating the Qur’an.
Pakistani artist develops unique Urdu script to tell stories of the marginalized
- Self-taught maestro Ahmer Farooq’s work has been displayed at shows across the UAE, US, UK and Germany
- On a global scale, contemporary Pakistani art has largely been recognized for truck art and neo-miniature paintings
ISLAMABAD: Pakistani artist Ahmer Farooq, a self-taught maestro whose work has been displayed at shows across the UAE, US, UK and Europe, has developed a unique Urdu script in his latest collection to tell the stories of Pakistan’s diverse socio-cultural landscape and put a spotlight on its many marginalized communities.
On a global scale, contemporary Pakistani art has largely been recognized for two movements: truck art and neo-miniature art. Kaleidoscopic murals of flowers, Islamic motifs, calligraphy, snow-capped Himalayan peaks, local mosques and popular figures are renowned examples of Pakistani truck art. Over time, the art form has extended beyond trucks and streets, and can now be seen on everything from shoes to teapots, with contemporary artists like Karachi-born and bred Haider Ali exhibiting their distinctive truck art style to museums and exhibitions across the world.
Similarly, neo-miniature art has been championed by the likes of Shahzia Sikander and Imran Qureshi, a new generation of Pakistani artists who have transformed the historical miniature painting from the Mughal courts into a contemporary art form. Recently, a painting by Pakistani figurative artist Salman Toor sold for a record $1.2 million and his work is now included in the permanent collection of Tate Modern, one of the largest museums of modern and contemporary art in the world.
In the past two decades, the Pakistani artistic community has also encouraged a vital culture of public art through the advent of local biennials, most notably the Lahore Biennial, established in 2018, and the Karachi Biennial, which held its first edition in 2017.
Against this background, Farooq, a Lahore-based former business graduate, has taken it upon himself to share the narratives he believes are often silenced by conservative Pakistani society. From the voices of religious minorities to the transgender community and large swathes of the population facing poverty, Farooq’s brush strokes capture the “essence of resilience and defiance against the odds.”
“Ahmer’s work has a very, when you see it, these bold vibrant paintings, but they’re very, very deep,” said Noshi Qadir, the curator of the artist’s latest show at Islamabad’s Tanzara Gallery, held in collaboration with the Norwegian Embassy.
“The way he navigates the topography of the canvas, portraying the sufferings, the triumphs and the emotions of humans and their identity. So it’s very deep, it’s very thought provoking.”
This time, Farooq’s work has a twist: as a secret keeper of Pakistan’s marginalized, as he likes to describe himself, and to exercise discretion about their very private triumphs and tribulations, he has developed a unique script in Urdu, Pakistan’s national language.
“When you would look at the canvas, you would see that the information or the text is not really readable,” Farooq said as he pointed to large stylized calligraphic alphabets on his colorful canvases.
“And that’s done deliberately because for example, when you’re looking at an individual like a person here, standing here, you would only see a person, but you would not really know their story or what all they’re going through. This information is private information.”
The use of a secret new language was because his latest collection was all about “the stories of marginalized communities” of Pakistan, the artist said:
“And the marginalized communities can be anyone, it can be religious marginalized communities, it could be people from the transgender community. It could be people like you and I, like who don’t fit into a certain norm which the society tells us to follow.”
“ARCHIPELAGO OF THE SELF”
Per Albert Ilsas, the Norwegian ambassador to Pakistan who inaugurated the collection entitled Archipelago of the Self, said Farooq’s “captivating” work explored the “complex interplay between personal and societal forces, expertly navigating the multifaceted nature of the Self.”
An archipelago, sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands, or sometimes a sea containing a small number of scattered islands.
“Farooq’s art sheds light on the fragmented realities of marginalized individuals, illustrating the negotiating of public, private and secret selves. Farooq’s work, the emotional burden caried by those living on the margins — women, religious minorities, ethnic and other minorities — is palpable.”
The ambassador said each brush stroke spoke of the “anxiety and emotional turmoil inherent in navigating a world where one’s identity is constantly scrutinized and judged.”
Ahmer described the Self as a collection of archipelagos, or a “scattering of isolated islands amidst the relentless ties of societal currents” and said his latest collection was an invitation to enable the “courage, resilience and hope of building bridges that reconnect all our islands.”
Zainab Shuja, an art student from Rawalpindi visiting Farooq’s exhibition, reflected on the significance of experiencing Pakistani contemporary art firsthand:
“We don’t see much contemporary art because we’re being trained [in the classical tradition] right now, and it’s always good to go out and experience what Pakistani contemporary art looks like. And we see all those influences here, and it’s really refreshing to see.”
Jonathan Andre from the Swiss Embassy in Islamabad praised Farooq’s art for its authenticity, highlighting the power of art to transcend boundaries and foster understanding.
“I think his art is very particular, very special, very authentic, very original,” he said. “And it’s great to see such an art scene in Pakistan to see a mix of culture with art and it translates very well in artworks.”
As Pakistan’s Jacobabad sizzles at 49°C, residents brace for ‘unbearable’ heat in coming months
- Jacobabad in Pakistan’s southern Sindh province is counted among world’s hottest cities
- Residents say prolonged power crisis makes heat unbearable during summer months
ISLAMABAD: The temperature in southern Pakistan’s Jacobabad city skyrocketed to 49° C on Sunday but residents said they feared the coming months would cause “unbearable heat” in the city, as many parts of the country remain in the grip of a heat wave.
Jacobabad in Pakistan’s southern Sindh province is considered one of the hottest places on earth, where temperatures during the summer frequently cross 50° C. Prolonged power outages and water crisis mean the summer months are particularly harsh for the city’s roughly 300,000 residents.
Pakistan’s disaster management authority warned earlier this month temperatures in certain areas of Pakistan’s Sindh and eastern Punjab provinces could surge to 40 degrees Celsius between May 15-30.
But residents, however, are more concerned with what the coming months of June, July and August would bring. Zulfiqar Ali, the owner of a herbal medical shop in the city, said the breeze makes the current heat wave bearable.
“The actual heat starts in June, July and August,” Ali told Reuters. “The winds stop totally at that time, so it becomes very humid. That heat is unbearable. We sweat so much that we cannot even work.”
Sharjil Ahmed, a school teacher, said residents consume cold drinks to beat the heat when the temperature crosses 50° C. However, power breakdowns make life difficult for the city’s residents.
“Because of power load shedding, there is a shortage of ice most of the time,” Ahmed said. “We try to stay in the shade, under trees.”
Increased exposure to heat, and more heat waves, have been identified as one of the key impacts of climate change in Pakistan, with people experiencing extreme heat and seeing some of the highest temperatures in the world in recent years. The South Asian country of more than 241 million, one of the ten most vulnerable nations to climate change impacts, has also recently witnessed untimely downpours, flash floods and droughts.
Climate change-induced extreme heat can cause illnesses such as heat cramps, heat exhaustion, heatstroke, and hyperthermia. It can make certain chronic conditions worse, including cardiovascular, respiratory, and cerebrovascular disease and diabetes-related conditions, and can also result in acute incidents, such as hospitalizations due to strokes or renal disease.
According to the Global Climate Risk Index, nearly 10,000 Pakistanis have died while the country has suffered economic losses worth $3.8 billion due to climate change impacts between 1999 and 2018. A deadly heat wave that hit Pakistan’s largest city of Karachi, the capital of Sindh, claimed 120 lives in 2015.
Amid heat wave spell, authorities say mercury to rise further in southern Punjab from today
- Temperatures to rise in Bahawalpur, Rahim Yar Khan, Bahawalnagar, Dera Ghazi Khan, Multan districts from Monday
- Heat wave first spell to last till May 30, second to begin from June 7-8 followed by third one in last week of June
ISLAMABAD: A spokesman for the Punjab Disaster Management Authority has said temperatures will continue to rise in southern parts of the Punjab province from today, Monday, amid an ongoing heat wave that is expected to carry on until next month.
Pakistan’s disaster management authority warned earlier this month temperatures in certain areas of Pakistan’s southern Sindh and eastern Punjab provinces could surge to 40 degrees Celsius between May 15-30. The Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) warned of an “intense” heat wave in the southern districts of Punjab, with severe risk identified in Bahawalpur, Rahim Yar Khan, Dera Ghazi Khan and Multan districts from May 21 to May 27.
An estimated 18 million students are also unable to attend classes because Punjab, Pakistan’s populous province Punjab, has ordered shutting down schools this month due to rising temperatures.
“Mercury will rise further in Bahawalpur, Rahim Yar Khan, Bahawalnagar, Dera Ghazi Khan and Multan districts from today, Monday,” a Punjab official was quoted as saying by state broadcaster Radio Pakistan on Monday.
“The National Institute of Health has advised people to avoid unnecessary outings and drink more water to prevent themselves from the effects of heatwave.”
Addressing a press conference last week, the Prime Minister’s Coordinator on Climate Change Romina Khurshid Alam said 26 districts of the country were in the grips of a heat wave since May 21.
Alam said the first wave would last till May 30, the second would begin from June 7-8 and the third one in the last week of June. May and June were recorded as the “hottest and driest” with higher monthly average temperatures, she added, appealing to the masses, especially children and elderly, to adopt preventive measures.
She noted that the severity of heat waves had increased rapidly during the past few months with 13 districts of Sindh, nine of Punjab and four districts of Balochistan experiencing “severe heat.”
“Harsh weather is likely to persist at least till June 3. There is no possibility for respite, at least for Sindh. The heat spell may break in parts of Punjab but that, too, after June 4,” the chief meteorologist said last week.
Increased exposure to heat, and more heat waves, have been identified as one of the key impacts of climate change in Pakistan, with people experiencing extreme heat and seeing some of the highest temperatures in the world in recent years. The South Asian country of more than 241 million, one of the ten most vulnerable nations to climate change impacts, has also recently witnessed untimely downpours, flash floods and droughts.
Climate change-induced extreme heat can cause illnesses such as heat cramps, heat exhaustion, heatstroke, and hyperthermia. It can make certain chronic conditions worse, including cardiovascular, respiratory, and cerebrovascular disease and diabetes-related conditions, and can also result in acute incidents, such as hospitalizations due to strokes or renal disease.
According to the Global Climate Risk Index, nearly 10,000 Pakistanis have died while the country has suffered economic losses worth $3.8 billion due to climate change impacts between 1999 and 2018. A deadly heat wave that hit Pakistan’s largest city of Karachi, the capital of Sindh, claimed 120 lives in 2015.
In 2022, torrential monsoon rains triggered the most devastating floods in Pakistan’s history, killing around 1,700 people and affecting over 33 million, a staggering number close to the population of Canada. Millions of homes, tens of thousands of schools and thousands of kilometers of roads and railways are yet to be rebuilt.
