US President Donald Trump appears to have already signalled where he stands on the Pakistan-Afghanistan conflict, and the clues lie in his past speeches. Speaking about tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan, Trump said he “gets along very well” with Pakistan, praising Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Army Chief General Asim Munir — remarks that many see as a clear diplomatic tilt.“Well, I would, but I get along with Pakistan, as you know, very well. Very, very well. You have a great prime minister. You have a great general there. You have a great leader. I think two of the people that I really respect a lot, and I think that Pakistan is doing terrifically well, you know,” Trump said while answering to reporters. This is not the first time when Trump praised Pakistan. He earlier called the PM and Army General “great” and “incredible”. Tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan have sharply escalated, with both militaries now directly involved and launching attacks against each other.Tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan flared into open conflict on 26 February after cross-border firing along multiple frontier provinces. According to Taliban officials, an offensive began at around 8pm local time across eastern Afghan provinces bordering Pakistan, including Nangarhar, Kunar and Khost. Islamabad accused the Afghan Taliban of launching “unprovoked fire” into its north-western province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and said its forces responded immediately. Within hours, Pakistan carried out air and artillery strikes inside Afghanistan, including in Kabul and border regions. The Taliban claimed it retaliated with drone attacks targeting Pakistani military sites. Both sides released sharply differing casualty figures and accused each other of hitting military posts as well as causing civilian harm. While many battlefield claims remain unverified, the rapid escalation from border exchanges to air strikes and drone attacks marked an unprecedented and dangerous deterioration in relations between the two neighbours.
