- The American president claims to have ended eight wars in eight months.
- Trump says he can resolve Pakistan-Afghanistan conflict ‘nicely’
- Adds that saving millions of lives is his greatest achievement.
US President Donald Trump on Sunday said he would “swiftly resolve” the Pakistan-Afghanistan conflict, calling Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Field Marshal Asim Munir “great people”.
Trump made the remarks during the signing ceremony of the Thailand-Cambodia peace agreement on the sidelines of the ASEAN summit in Kuala Lumpur.
Border crossings between the two countries have remained closed since October 11, following clashes earlier this month that left dozens dead on both sides in the worst fighting since the Taliban took Kabul in 2021.
The border clashes were sparked after Islamabad demanded that Kabul control militants attacking Pakistan across their shared border, saying they were operating from safe havens in Afghanistan. A ceasefire was agreed during talks hosted by Qatar and Turkey last weekend and is in effect between the two sides.
During the second round of talks in Istanbul, Pakistan handed over a comprehensive counter-terrorism plan to the Afghan Taliban, sources said.
Referring to recent border tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan, Trump expressed confidence in his ability to help both sides achieve peace.
“…we have an average of one a month. Only one left, although I heard that Pakistan and Afghanistan have started. But I will solve this problem very quickly. I know them both. And the marshal and the prime minister are great people, and I am confident that we will achieve this quickly.”
The US president further said that he considers peacebuilding a priority. “If I can take some time and save millions of lives, that’s a really good thing,” he remarked, adding that, unlike other presidents, he has focused on ending wars rather than starting them.
“I don’t know any president who has ever solved a war. They start wars. They don’t solve them,” he added.
Meanwhile, the leaders of Thailand and Cambodia signed a strengthened ceasefire agreement on Sunday in the presence of Trump, whose intervention in their violent border conflict earned him a Nobel Peace Prize nomination.
The agreement builds on a truce signed three months ago after Trump called the leaders of the two countries at the time, urging them to end hostilities or risk having their respective trade negotiations with Washington suspended.
Both sides blame each other for sparking the five-day exchange of rockets and heavy artillery that killed at least 48 people and temporarily displaced around 300,000 in the worst fighting in recent history.
