ISLAMABAD: Influential US Senator Lindsey Graham met with Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan in Islamabad on Monday to discuss bilateral ties and regional issues, including peace efforts in Afghanistan.
“Prime Minister said that broad-based and enduring partnership between Pakistan and the US was important for peace, prosperity, and development in the region,” the premier’s office said in a statement.
Senator Graham chairs the US Senate’s Judiciary Committee and is a senior member of the Armed Services, Appropriations and Budget Committees of the Senate.
Khan urged Graham to continue to play his role in transforming Pakistan-US relations by intensifying bilateral economic cooperation.
This is Graham’s second visit to Pakistan in 2019.
He thanked the premier for consistent support in the Afghan peace process and reiterated his desire for a broader bilateral relationship with a particular focus on economic cooperation, enhanced market access, and increased investments.
“He appreciated Pakistan’s achievements in mainstreaming the tribal areas through development work. He also commended Pakistan on border fencing initiative,” the statement read.
PM Khan said “Pakistan would continue to play its facilitating role in the Afghan peace and reconciliation process,” the statement read.
In the meeting, Khan also apprised the senator of “continuing atrocities” in Indian-administered Kashmir, as well as the Indian government’s “discriminatory policies against minorities,” as he called for the US “to prevent further deterioration of peace and stability in the region.”
Graham also met with Pakistan Army chief Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa and, according to the army’s media wing, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), discussed “regional security, including Afghan Reconciliation Process,” ISPR said in a statement on Twitter, adding that the senator also “acknowledged Pakistan’s efforts toward regional peace and stability.”
Analyst and political commentator Zahid Hussain told Arab News that “Lindsay Graham is very close to President Trump and has played an important role in improving relations between Pakistan and the US.”
According to Hussain, Graham’s “visit is significant as Washington and Taliban are back to the negotiating table,” and “Pakistan’s role will be very important in any peace agreement.”
Pakistan’s former foreign secretary, Salman Bashir, said the senator is a friend of Pakistan and is in US President Donald Trump’s close circle, who has been advocating deeper cooperative ties with Pakistan and is involved in “finding a political solution to issues related to Afghanistan.”
“His conversations with Pakistani leadership are particularly important for renewing bilateral relations and stabilizing regional peace,” Bashir said
Senator Graham in Pakistan to discuss broader economic ties, regional peace
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Senator Graham in Pakistan to discuss broader economic ties, regional peace
- Senator Lindsey Graham acknowledges Pakistan’s efforts toward regional stability
- Graham is considered a friend of Pakistan, wants more economic cooperation
Security forces kill four militants in Pakistan’s volatile southwest, military says
- Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest province by land area bordering Iran and Afghanistan, has long been the site of a low-level insurgency
- The Balochistan government has recently established a threat assessment center to strengthen early warning, prevent ‘terrorism’ incidents
ISLAMABAD: Pakistani security forces gunned down four militants in an intelligence-based operation in the southwestern Balochistan province, the military said on Tuesday.
The operation was conducted in Balochistan’s Kalat district on reports about the presence of militants, according to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the Pakistani military’s media wing.
The “Indian-sponsored militants” were killed in an exchange of fire during the operation, while weapons and ammunition were also recovered from the deceased, who remained actively involved in numerous militant activities.
“Sanitization operations are being conducted to eliminate any other Indian-sponsored terrorist found in the area,” the ISPR said in a statement.
There was no immediate response from New Delhi to the statement.
Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest province by land area bordering Iran and Afghanistan, has long been the site of a low-level insurgency involving Baloch separatist groups, including the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) and the Balochistan Liberation Front (BLF).
Pakistan accuses India of supporting these separatist militant groups and describes them as “Fitna Al-Hindustan.” New Delhi denies the allegation.
The government in Balochistan has also established a state-of-the-art threat assessment center to strengthen early warning and prevention against “terrorism” incidents, a senior official said this week.
“Information that was once scattered is now shared and acted upon in time, allowing the state to move from reacting after incidents to preventing them before they occur,” Balochistan Additional Chief Secretary Hamza Shafqaat wrote on X.
The development follows a steep rise in militancy-related deaths in Pakistan in 2025. According to statistics released by the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies (PICSS) last month, combat-related deaths in 2025 rose 73 percent to 3,387.
These included 2,115 militants, 664 security forces personnel, 580 civilians and 28 members of pro-government peace committees, the think tank said.
