- The president of the United States says he ended eight wars in eight months.
- Trump says he can resolve the conflict between Pakistan and Afghanistan “very well.”
- He adds that saving millions of lives is his greatest achievement.
US President Donald Trump on Sunday said he would “quickly resolve” the Pakistan-Afghanistan conflict and praised Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Field Marshal Asim Munir, Chief of Army Staff (COAS), as “great people”.
Trump made the remarks during a speech at the signing ceremony of a peace agreement between Thailand and Cambodia 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 killed dozens of people on both sides in the worst fighting since the Taliban took over Kabul in 2021.
The border clashes were triggered 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 upon in talks hosted by Qatar and Turkiye last weekend and is being maintained by 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 said he hoped to help both sides reach peace.
“…we’re averaging one a month. There’s only one left, although I heard that Pakistan and Afghanistan have started. But I’ll get that done very quickly. I know them both. And the Field Marshal and the Prime Minister are great people, and I have no doubt that we’ll get it done quickly.”
The US president also said he considered peacebuilding a priority. “If I can take the time and save millions of lives, that’s a really great thing,” he said, adding that unlike other presidents, he focused on ending wars rather than starting them.
“I can’t think of 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 an enhanced ceasefire agreement on Sunday in the presence of Trump, whose intervention in their fierce border conflict earned him a nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize.
The deal builds on a truce signed three months ago after Trump called the then-leaders of the two countries, urging them to end hostilities or risk having their respective trade talks with Washington put on hold.
Both sides blame each other for starting the five-day exchange of rockets and heavy artillery, which killed at least 48 people and temporarily displaced some 300,000 people in the worst fighting in recent history.
