ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has urged the US and Taliban to re-engage in peace talks, following US President Donald Trump’s announcement of calling off negotiations that had seemed to be nearing a peace agreement.
“Pakistan has been facilitating the peace and reconciliation process in good faith and as a shared responsibility, and has encouraged all sides to remain engaged with sincerity and patience,” Pakistan’s foreign office said in a statement late on Sunday.
“Pakistan reiterates its principled policy stance that there is no military solution to the conflict in Afghanistan and urges that both sides must re-engage to find negotiated peace from the ongoing political settlement process. Pakistan looks for optimized engagement following earliest resumption of talks,” the statement said.
In a series of Twitter posts, President Trump announced earlier in the day he had “called off” peace negotiations and was canceling a secret summit with the Taliban at Camp David due to an attack in Kabul that killed 12 people, including an American soldier.
In response, a Taliban statement said US negotiators had seemed “content” with negotiations and talks had ended in a “good atmosphere.”
“Now, as the president of the United States has announced suspension of negotiations with the Islamic Emirate, this will harm America more than anyone else,” the statement said.
Peshawar-based Afghan affairs expert Rustam Shah Mohmand said the cancelation had jeopardized the long-drawn-out process that began almost a year ago, and would escalate into a cycle of violence in Afghanistan.
“It is a very bad development for peace and stability in Afghanistan as well as the region,” Mohmand told Arab News.
“People will lose hope as there was an expectation that the peace negotiations will deliver a positive outcome,” he said, adding that criticism against peace talks within Trump’s government could have been one reason for the surprise announcement.
“Or it can be a ploy to put pressure on the Taliban, so they ... make some concessions for the Americans, because there was a perception in the US that the Taliban were getting everything without giving anything,” he added.
Former Pakistani diplomat Ayaz Wazir, who also served in Afghanistan, told Arab News that the development was unfortunate as US negotiator Zalmay Khalilzad had invested more than a year into nine rounds of talks that were now in their final phase.
“The Taliban and US were indulged in an ongoing war and cease-fire was not reached. The Taliban have never claimed that they will stop attacks, rather they always maintain that they will keep on fighting unless some agreement is reached,” he said.
“This is not the first time that a US soldier died in an attack,” he added.
However, Wazir did not rule out the possibility that Trump’s decision could be reversed.
“We cannot completely trust Trump on such claims ... one day he canceled his meeting with the North Korean leader and the next day he announced he would meet him,” Wazir said, adding that a surge in violence and instability is possible, as hope for peace wavers.
“The whole world will blame the United States for this, not Afghans or Taliban,” Wazir said.
Pakistan urges US, Taliban to re-engage in peace talks after Trump’s cancellation
Pakistan urges US, Taliban to re-engage in peace talks after Trump’s cancellation
- No military solution to the conflict in Afghanistan, says foreign office
- cancellation had jeopardized a long-drawn-out process, say experts
Pakistan PM orders accelerated privatization of power sector to tackle losses
- Tenders to be issued for privatization of three major electricity distribution firms, PMO says
- Sharif says Pakistan to develop battery energy storage through public-private partnerships
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s prime minister on Monday directed the government to speed up privatization of state-owned power companies and improve electricity infrastructure nationwide, as authorities try to address deep-rooted losses and inefficiencies in the energy sector that have weighed on the economy and public finances.
Pakistan’s electricity system has long struggled with financial distress caused by a combination of factors including theft of power, inefficient collection of bills, high costs of generating electricity and a large burden of unpaid obligations known as “circular debt.” In the first quarter of the current financial year, government-owned distribution companies recorded losses of about Rs171 billion ($611 million) due to poor bill recovery and operational inefficiencies, official documents show. Circular debt in the broader power sector stood at around Rs1.66 trillion ($5.9 billion) in mid-2025, a sharp decline from past peaks but still a major fiscal drain.
Efforts to contain these losses have been a focus of Pakistan’s economic reform program with the International Monetary Fund, which has urged structural changes in the energy sector as part of financing conditions. Previous government initiatives have included signing a $4.5 billion financing facility with local banks to ease power sector debt and reducing retail electricity tariffs to support economic recovery.
“Electricity sector privatization and market-based competition is the sustainable solution to the country’s energy problems,” Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said at a meeting reviewing the roadmap for power sector reforms, according to a statement from the prime minister’s office.
The meeting reviewed progress on privatization and infrastructure projects. Officials said tenders for modernizing one of Pakistan’s oldest operational hubs, Rohri Railway Station, will be issued soon and that the Ghazi Barotha to Faisalabad transmission line, designed to improve long-distance transmission of electricity, is in the initial approval stages. While not all power-sector decisions were detailed publicly, the government emphasized expanding private sector participation and completing priority projects to strengthen the electricity grid.
In another key development, the prime minister endorsed plans to begin work on a battery energy storage system with participation from private investors to help manage fluctuations in supply and demand, particularly as renewable energy sources such as solar and wind take a growing role in generation. Officials said the concept clearance for the storage system has been approved and feasibility studies are underway.
Government briefing documents also outlined steps toward shifting some electricity plants from imported coal to locally mined Thar coal, where a railway line expansion is underway to support transport of fuel, potentially lowering costs and import dependence in the long term.
State authorities also pledged to address safety by converting unmanned railway crossings to staffed ones and to strengthen food safety inspections at stations, underscoring broader infrastructure and service improvements connected to energy and transport priorities.
