RAWALPINDI: The United States should leave Afghanistan as a friend of the region and commit to rebuilding the country when it exits more than 17 years since American-led forces invaded, the head of the Pakistan army’s media wing said as Taliban officials and US negotiators agreed on the draft of a peace agreement that could potentially end the United States’ longest war.
This week, the Taliban resumed stalled peace talks with US special peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad in Doha, where the insurgents have long maintained an office. The dialogue, originally meant to run over two days, entered its sixth day on Saturday, raising hopes that the latest efforts to find a mechanism to end the 17-year Afghan war might be the most serious yet.
Taliban sources told media on Saturday night that a draft peace deal decided between the Taliban and US official stipulated that troops would leave within 18 months of the agreement being signed.
“Afghanistan should not go into turmoil” when US forces leave, Major General Asif Ghafoor, the head of the army’s media wing, said in a wide-ranging interview to Arab News on Friday evening: “The US should leave Afghanistan as friends of the region, with a commitment to assist Afghanistan in becoming self-sustaining and help in socio-economic development.”
The US has long been pressuring Pakistan to use its influence over the Taliban to bring them to the negotiating table. Last week, Khalilzad visited Pakistan to push the peace process forward amid media reports that the Taliban had refused to meet him in Islamabad, insisting that they preferred to hold talks in Qatar and did not want Pakistan, the U.A.E. and Saudi Arabia to be involved.
“We are a facilitator” in the peace process, the military spokesman said. “We have done our job of bringing them to the negotiating table. What is discussed and how the process moves forward will depend on progress during every meeting.”
When asked if the Taliban had refused to meet Khalilzad in Islamabad, Ghafoor said: “There are so many factions and stakeholders involved in the process. Coordination takes time. One faction or party gets out of coordination, [which] can result in changes in schedule or place.”
He said Pakistan had pushed for the dialogue to restart but had “no preference for time or place.”
“Our intent is a peaceful Afghanistan, we have no other intent,” the general said.
Taliban sources have told media the Doha talks have focused on a roadmap for the withdrawal of foreign forces from Afghanistan and a guarantee the country will not be used for hostile acts against the United States and its allies.
The Taliban have so far refused direct talks with the Kabul government, which it views as an illegitimate, foreign-appointed force. Ghafoor said there was as yet no certainty on whether the insurgents could be persuaded to engage with the Afghan government but added that progress from the meetings would determine all outcomes.
Islamabad fears that increased turmoil in Afghanistan would mean more sanctuaries there for Pakistani Taliban [TTP] militants who have lost control of all territory in Pakistan since a major counter-terrorism operation was launched after a 2014 attack on an army school.
Pakistan has also fenced part of its porous 2,500 km border with Afghanistan to prevent incursions by the Pakistan Taliban who have waged a decade-long insurgency in the South Asian nation.
Ghafoor said the Afghan government did not currently have the capacity to eliminate all sanctuaries given that it was embroiled in fighting an insurgency, but once the Taliban entered the political mainstream, Kabul would be in a better position to tackle groups like the Pakistan Taliban and Daesh.
“If there is peace in Afghanistan and greater control of the area by Afghan forces, it will be difficult for TTP to continue their sanctuaries there,” the military spokesman said.
The general dismissed fears that the US would lose interest in Pakistan once it exited Afghanistan, or be free to take harsh actions when it no longer needed Islamabad’s help to end the conflict.
“Pakistan has always remained relevant and will continue to be relevant,” Ghafoor said. “And when the US leave Afghanistan, it will leave acknowledging Pakistan’s role in ending the conflict. Our relationship shall further strengthen.”
But as Pakistan’s ties with the US have soured in recent years over the war in Afghanistan, Islamabad has turned to neighboring China to fill the void. The countries are partners in a $60 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) of infrastructure and energy projects that Beijing touts as the flagship program in its vast Belt and Road Initiative.
Responding to media reports that Pakistan was building military jets, weapons and other hardware with funds received under the CPEC umbrella, Ghafoor said the corridor was “purely an economic project.”
“We have separate defense cooperation with China but that has nothing to do with CPEC,” he said. “We had F-16 deals with the US That was our requirement. Later we have jointly made the JF-17 Thunder with China. Like any sovereign country, Pakistan takes decisions suiting its national interest.”
Speaking about a growing protest movement by Pakistan’s ethnic Pashtuns who want the army to remove land mines and check-posts from the country’s northwest where most Pashtuns live, and allege extrajudicial killings, arbitrary detentions and “disappearances” of young Pashtun men, which it vehemently denies, the army spokesman said:
“Till such time that the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement [PTM] is peaceful and they stick to their genuine demands, which are natural in a post-conflict environment, the state is committed to take care of them.”
Responding to a question about PTM leaders Ali Wazir and Mohsin Dawar who, along with the movement’s founder Manzoor Pashteen, have emerged as the strongest voices against alleged military high-handedness, Ghafoor said the demands of the Pahstun people were genuine and the state was committed to addressing them.
“But instigating people against institutions is neither within the law nor a public sentiment,” he said. “Once we have fulfilled the genuine demands which are already in the overall plan, then we see how to deal with anyone who still tries to exploit.”
The army’s media chief also said the movement was being exploited by Pakistan’s enemies, in a veiled reference possibly to arch-rival India and neighboring Afghanistan: “When there are fault lines, then enemies will always try to exploit them. So there is an effort to exploit PTM, whether with their connivance or not.”
The general warned that India needed to “stop using proxies against us,” adding that “just as we are concerned that an unstable Afghanistan is not in our interest, India should also know that an unstable Pakistan is not in its interest. They need to change their behavior.”
Responding to a question about an extension in military courts first set up by parliament in 2015, and decried for their lack of transparency, Ghafoor said the courts were a “national requirement” because the country’s civilian judicial infrastructure was ill-equipped to deal with terrorism cases.
Ghafoor said verdicts could be appealed at several levels, including in military appellate and civilian courts, and those on death row had the right to file mercy petitions with the army chief and the president of Pakistan.
“Military courts proceed as per law; there is a laid down legal process with full transparency. Courts decide on evidence and not emotions,” the army’s media chief said. However, he added, “should parliament decide that military courts are not needed, then they will not be renewed.”
US should leave Afghanistan as friends of the region — DG ISPR
US should leave Afghanistan as friends of the region — DG ISPR
- Head of Pakistan army’s media wing gives wide-ranging, exclusive interview to Arab News
- Says Pakistan has done its job of bringing insurgents to the negotiating table
In tense relations with India, Pakistani TV dramas break down barriers diplomacy often cannot
- Pakistani dramas offer millions of Indians a glimpse into life across border into arch-rival country
- Pakistani dramas offer simplicity, depth of writing and limited episodes, says actor Khalid Anam
KARACHI: Two Pakistani women sit together on a couch, rehearsing their lines while a director scrutinizes them. Waiting off camera for his scene is the male lead, an actor blessed with “Bachelor” hair and fine bone structure.
Also out of sight: the Islamabad homeowners, who are holed up in a separate room and whose furniture and knick-knacks will be seen by millions of viewers — many from the society that has been their country’s neighbor and uneasy sparring partner for much of the past century.
This is the set of the Pakistani drama “Adhi Bewafai,” or “Half Infidelity” — one of what some in other nations would call “soap operas.” But these dramas, it turns out, are not just for Pakistanis.
Realistic settings, natural dialogue and almost workaday plots about families and marriages make Pakistani dramas a hit with viewers at home and abroad — especially in the neighboring country that split with Pakistan in 1947 and is its nuclear archrival today: India.
Television, it seems, is succeeding where diplomacy sometimes can’t.
Several thousand people work in Pakistan’s drama industry; the country produces between 80 to 120 shows a year, each one a source of escapism and intrigue. They offer Indians a tantalizing glimpse into life across the border — and manage to break through decades of enmity between the two governments.
Maheen Shafeeq, a research associate at the Institute of Strategic Studies in Islamabad, says there is effectively no relationship between the two governments.
Each government is fixed on a single issue it cannot move past — for India, it’s “terrorism” for Pakistan, the disputed territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
“The governments are very much opposed to each other,” she says. “They don’t agree what they should talk about.”
Although it’s difficult for Indians to visit Pakistan, where these shows are filmed, they faithfully follow the plot twists and turns through platforms like YouTube, ZEE5, and MX Player.
For those of a certain generation, however, it wasn’t always so easy to keep up.
Kaveri Sharma, a writer in the Indian city of Patna, recalls her mother-in-law and aunt jiggling antennas in the 1980s and 1990s in hopes of catching a signal from Pakistan’s state broadcaster, PTV.
It’s how Sharma first realized that the country next door was a drama powerhouse. It inspired her to discover the shows for herself years later, even going on to watch them with her own daughter.
“They feel familiar, but they are also a break from our own lives,” Sharma says. “I don’t see any differences between the two countries. Everything is relatable. I see Karachi and think that it could be Lucknow or Patna. What happens on the shows could happen to me or my friends.”
She had heard only negative things about Pakistan since childhood — that it was the enemy that would take everything from India. The TV dramas have added subtlety and detail to this image for her. She would love to visit, but is unlikely to get the opportunity.
So she explores Pakistan through the locations, malls, offices, streets and restaurants depicted on the small screen. The names of popular Karachi neighborhoods roll off her tongue.
Sharma, like Bibi Hafeez in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad and Punita Kumar in the central Indian city of Raipur, raves about the dramas’ universality of themes, the strong characterization and the emotional range.
“Pakistani characters are not only heroes or villains. They have shades to them, and that is very human,” says Kumar, who chanced upon a Pakistani drama through a chunky videocassette when she was a teenager living in the northern Indian city of Aligarh. It was love at first watch.
“They captivated me. We got a cable connection that offered PTV. Then YouTube came and I realized I could search for whatever drama I wanted. I haven’t taken a stop,” she said. “We get exposure to Pakistani life in the scenes, but the struggles the characters have with their relatives are ones I would have with my own.”
Pakistani TV veteran Khaled Anam is delighted by Indians’ enthusiasm for the country’s serials and the barriers they help erode.
“What Bollywood is to India, dramas are to Pakistan,” says Anam, who is based in Karachi and has worked as an actor since the 1980s. He has appeared in many dramas, including the ratings smash “Humsafar” (“Life Partner”).
India’s productions go big, while Pakistan’s are more low key
India dominates the movie market in South Asia and beyond, with big stars and bigger budgets. Pakistanis have been exposed to Bollywood films for decades, although the prevailing hostile political climate means they can’t watch them in movie theaters.
The bans are mutual, though. India, like Pakistan, restricts content from across the border in movie theaters and TV channels.
And while India is no slouch when it comes to TV production, it doesn’t offer viewers what Pakistan does, according to Anam: simplicity, depth of writing and a limited number of episodes.
“There are 15-minute flashbacks in Indian serials. (The characters) are decked out and dolled up. It’s a fantasy world. The shows go on forever. Everything is ‘DUN dun dun!’” says Anam, mimicking a dramatic musical riff and shaking his hands.
The actors on the couch in Islamabad are rehearsing lines about a woman who is disrespectful and so, according to one of them, is an unsuitable marriage prospect.
The delivery and grammar could be heard in virtually any South Asian household.
“Pakistanis are generally emotional people, and that is in their dramas also,” says Islamabad-based director Saife Hassan. “It would take me less than two minutes to explain the plot of the super-duper hit ‘Kabhi Main, Kabhi Tum’ (‘Sometimes Me, Sometimes You’). It’s about the emotions between a husband and wife.”
Hassan, who began his TV career in the 1990s, says Indians frequently comment on his social media pages and send him direct messages about his work. He even recalls Indian viewers praying for the recovery of a character who was in a coma.
Hassan would love to see more homegrown dramas make it onto platforms like Netflix, as some Indian shows have with great success. But he wonders whether international audiences would understand and connect with Pakistani stories or lives:
“The way we think is different from the West. Our shows are not driven by events. They are driven by emotions.”
There is also a lack of raunch in Pakistani dramas, which are family-friendly with little to no vulgarity, violence, or even action. Indians, therefore, are a natural audience for Pakistani dramas, Hassan says.
“They are our people. They are like us. They eat like us,” he says. “I love India, and I love Indians. They have grown out of this animosity.”
Pakistan stocks surge by over 1,400 points amid decline in oil prices, policy rate cut hopes
- Benchmark KSE index closes at 113,713 points, surging 1.3 percent more from last close
- Central bank’s Monetary Policy Committee is set to review interest rate on Mar. 10
ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) surged by over 1,400 points on Thursday as bulls dominated the trading session, with analysts attributing the rise to a drop in oil prices at the international market and investors’ hopes of a further cut in the policy rate by the central bank.
The benchmark KSE-100 index rose by 1,459.41 points or 1.3 percent to close at 113,713.17 points on Thursday, up from the previous close of 112,253.76.
The development takes place as the State Bank of Pakistan’s (SBP) Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is set to review the interest rate on Mar. 10, with many expecting the bank to slash the interest rate further.
“Stocks closed bullish led by scrips across the board amid speculations ahead of SBP policy announcement on March 10,” Ahsan Mehanti, managing director and CEO of Arif Habib Commodities, told Arab News.
It said investors’ expectations for further ease in the central bank’s policy after treasury bill auction yields remained flat, following a decade-low consumer price index inflation which was recorded at 1.5 percent year-on-year in February.
Prominent Pakistani brokerage house Topline Securities attributed the surge in stocks to a sharp decline in global oil prices.
“This rally was primarily driven by a sharp decline in international oil prices, which plunged to multi-year lows, uplifting investor sentiment,” Topline Securities said in its daily market review.
“Moreover, speculation surrounding high-level meeting on the clearance of the longstanding circular debt further fueled optimism across the board.”
The report highlighted how the benchmark index surged to an intraday high of 1,617 points causing the equity market to witness a robust rebound in today’s session.
It added that a total of 372 million shares changed hands which generated a turnover of Rs26.2 billion with PIBTL dominating the volume charts.
The development takes place as an International Monetary Fund (IMF) team is in the country for the first review of the $7 billion loan program that Islamabad secured last September.
A nine-member mission, led by IMF Mission Chief in Pakistan Nathan Porter, is in the country to assess Pakistan’s economic performance and determine the release of a $1.1 billion tranche from the $7 billion Extended Fund Facility (EFF) over the next three weeks, secured as part of Islamabad’s economic recovery plan.
Pakistani experts divided over impact of IMF’s ongoing review on cenbank’s interest rate policy
- Pakistani analyst says central bank may maintain policy rate due to IMF’s demand of higher taxes
- Pakistan’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is set to meet on Mar. 10 to review borrowing rate
KARACHI: Financial experts on Thursday remained divided over whether the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) ongoing first review of Pakistan’s $7 billion bailout program will lead to the central bank increasing or decreasing the interest rate next week.
The central bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is set to meet and review the interest rate on Mar. 10. The development takes place as a delegation of the IMF is reviewing Pakistan’s economic performance in Islamabad under its $7 billion Extended Fund Facility program.
The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has reduced borrowing rates by a cumulative 1,000 basis points since June 2024 to 12 percent to spur economic growth. Shankar Talreja, director of research at brokerage firm Topline Securities, told Arab News he expected the central bank to maintain the interest rate at 12 percent and not introduce a further cut.
“We expect the central bank to remain prudent and observe the status quo in upcoming meeting,” Talreja told Arab News.
Talreja explained that since Pakistan is facing a revenue shortfall and to achieve the desired tax-to-GDP ratio, the IMF can push the government to impose additional tax measures. These in turn can lead to inflation which would cause the SBP to maintain the interest rate at 12 percent rather than slash it further.
The IMF has expressed concern over Pakistan facing a revenue shortfall of about Rs600 billion in this fiscal year.
The international lender wants cash-strapped Pakistan to increase its revenues by scrapping energy subsidies and imposing taxes on agriculture, real estate and retail sectors.
Talreja said the anticipated tax measures may bring pause to the interest rate easing cycle “for a few months.”
He said certain tax measures were already outlined in the IMF’s detailed report, such as the increase in advance income tax on imports of machinery, withholding tax on supplies and increase in federal excise duty on sugary drinks.
“Any shortfall over and above Rs500 billion will trigger additional tax measures to be taken by the government in its new budget for the financial year 2026,” Talreja explained.
A majority of market participants said they expected a rate cut ranging from 50 basis points to 150 basis points, a survey conducted by Topline Securities said last week.
The Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI), Pakistan’s top trade body, on Wednesday called for a 500-basis-point (bps) cut in the policy rate. The body said businesses remained dissatisfied with monetary policy and demanded a cut due to easing inflation.
Muhammad Waqas Ghani, head of research at JS Global Capital Ltd., disagreed with Talreja. He said the IMF can set a lower tax target for Pakistan, which would not trigger further inflation.
“We believe that the IMF review and the miss in tax collection targets will not impact the SBP’s decision,” Ghani told Arab News.
Pakistan’s macroeconomic indicators have gradually improved since it secured the IMF bailout last summer. The country’s consumer price index (CPI) inflation rate, maintaining a downward trend on Monday, hit a more than 9-year low at 1.51 percent year-on-year in February.
If the IMF approves the first review of the loan, the country is in line to receive about $1 billion as the second installment of the loan package.
Pakistan army chief slams Afghanistan for ‘harboring’ militants after deadly Bannu attack
- Five soldiers, 13 civilians killed on Tuesday in attack on military base in Bannu city in northwestern Pakistan
- Military says attack was orchestrated from neighboring Afghanistan whose Taliban rulers deny allowing militant activity
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan army chief General Syed Asim Munir said on Thursday Afghanistan continued to be a “safe haven” for militants, a day after the military said an attack on a cantonment in the country’s northwest had been planned and orchestrated from the neighboring country.
Suicide bombers drove two vehicles packed with explosives into a military base in Bannu city in an attack staged by more than a dozen militants on Tuesday. The army said five soldiers and 13 civilians had been killed in the assault, which caused a partial collapse of the military compound’s outer wall and damaged nearby infrastructure, including a mosque and residential building.
Pakistan is battling a surge in attacks by its own chapter of the Taliban movement, known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), on police and military in areas near the Afghan border. Islamabad says the militants operate from neighboring Afghanistan, whose rulers deny the charge.
“Terrorist groups … continued to operate from Afghan soil against Pakistan,” the military said in a statement, quoting Munir after he visited Bannu on Thursday. “The use of foreign weapons and equipment in recent terrorist attacks was clear evidence that Afghanistan remained a safe haven for such elements.”
The army chief added that “no entity would be allowed to disrupt Pakistan’s peace and stability.”
The Afghan government has not responded to Pakistan’s accusations.
In a statement released on Wednesday, the military said intelligence reports had “unequivocally confirmed the physical involvement of Afghan nationals” in the Bannu attack, adding that evidence proved the attack was orchestrated and directed by insurgents operating from Afghanistan.
“Pakistan expects the Interim Afghan Government to uphold its responsibilities and deny its soil for terrorist activities against Pakistan. Pakistan reserves the right to take necessary measures in response to these threats emanating from across the border,” the military said.
Jaish-e-Fursan Muhammad, a militant faction affiliated with the Pakistani Taliban (TTP), claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement released to media.
Pakistan has repeatedly accused the Taliban authorities in Kabul of facilitating cross-border militant attacks, a charge Afghan authorities deny.
The TTP was formed in 2007 as an umbrella organization of various hard-line groups operating individually in Pakistan.
The TTP pledges allegiance to, and gets its name from, the Afghan Taliban, but is not directly a part of the group that now rules Afghanistan. Its stated aim is to impose Islamic religious law in Pakistan, as the Taliban have done in Afghanistan.
The TTP is responsible for some of the bloodiest attacks in Pakistan, including on churches and schools and the shooting of Malala Yousafzai, who survived the 2012 attack after she was targeted for her campaign against the Taliban’s efforts to deny women education.
Militants have targeted Bannu several times in the past also. Last November, a suicide car bomb killed 12 troops and wounded several others at a security post. In July, a suicide bomber detonated his explosives-laden vehicle and other militants opened fire near the outer wall of the military facility.
International hockey returns to Pakistan as German junior team arrives in Islamabad
- Pakistan marked first international hockey match played in the country for 7 years when it played series against China in 2011
- Before that, Pakistan had last staged an international match in 2004 when it hosted the Champions Trophy in Lahore
ISLAMABAD: The German Junior Hockey Team, world champions, arrived in Pakistan on Thursday for a four-match series, marking the return of international hockey to Pakistan after nearly a decade and a half, the government’s press department said in a statement.
Pakistan marked the first international hockey match played in the country for seven years when Chinese played four matches here in what was dubbed as the ‘Friendship Series’.
Before that, Pakistan had last staged an international match in 2004 when it hosted the Champions Trophy in Lahore but after that foreign teams refused to play in the country due to security concerns.
Since the September 11 attacks in the United States, foreign teams have been reluctant to travel to Pakistan in many sports and the South Asian country was left completely isolated as a sporting venue after militants attacked the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore in March 2009.
“Under the vision of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, this initiative aims to provide Pakistani junior players with international exposure and reestablish Pakistan as a hub for global hockey,” PID said about the four-math series between Pakistan and Germany.
“The series will feature one match in Islamabad and three in Lahore, promising a thrilling competition for fans.”
The two teams will face each other in Lahore on Mar. 6, 8 and 11 while one match will be played in Islamabad on Mar. 13.
“The series holds great significance for both teams as they prepare for the Hockey Junior World Cup being played 2025 in India,” state media reported.
Field hockey, Pakistan’s national sport, once propelled the country to Olympic gold and global glory, but the game has waned in popularity and participation over the past two decades. Poor management, lack of infrastructure and the rise of cricket has contributed to the decline. The failure to adapt to modern demands, including fitness and artificial turfs, has further deepened the crisis.
According to the latest rankings released by the International Hockey Federation, Pakistan is ranked number 15 in the world in field hockey.
