New Trump travel ban could bar Afghans, Pakistanis soon — sources

ISLAMABAD: US National Security Adviser Michael Waltz called Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar on Wednesday during which the two officials discussed counterterrorism cooperation and bilateral cooperation in various sectors, Pakistan’s state broadcaster said.
The phone call followed US President Donald Trump’s Tuesday announcement about the arrest of a senior Daesh commander implicated in the 2021 Kabul airport bombing that killed 13 US service members. Trump thanked Pakistan for helping US arrest the Daesh commander. 
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif responded by thanking Trump for acknowledging Pakistan’s role and support in counterterrorism in a social media post. He said the Daesh commander was an Afghan national who was arrested in a successful operation conducted in the Pakistan-Afghanistan border region. 
“Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar received a call from US National Security Adviser Michael Waltz, who conveyed President Donald Trump’s appreciation and thanks for Government of Pakistan’s efforts in countering terrorism,” state broadcaster Radio Pakistan reported. 
Dar congratulated Waltz on assuming office and said Islamabad looks forward to building on its “longstanding and broad-based” relationship with Washington under Trump and his administration, the state-run media said. 
“He reaffirmed Pakistan’s commitment to continue its cooperation with the United States in the field of counterterrorism,” Radio Pakistan said, adding that Dar also appreciated Trump’s announcement to withdraw US military equipment left behind in Afghanistan.
The two sides reaffirmed their commitment to enhance cooperation in IT, energy and mineral sectors, Radio Pakistan said. 
They also agreed on the need to have continued dialogues on trade, investment, climate change and health as part of a broad-based agenda in the days to come, the state-run media said. 
Pakistan and the US have a history of cooperation in counterterrorism efforts, particularly during the “war on terror” following the Sept. 11 attacks.
Despite periods of strained relations, Pakistan has captured and handed over several Taliban and Al-Qaeda members to US authorities.
However, both nations have faced criticism from human rights organizations, alleging that not all detainees were affiliated with militant groups and highlighting concerns over the treatment of these individuals, including reports of extreme interrogation techniques such as waterboarding and sleep deprivation.
Ties between Pakistan and the US, which mostly remained strained under former prime minister Imran Khan’s premiership from 2018-2022, have improved since Khan’s ouster from office. His predecessor Sharif has called for closer ties with Washington since assuming office in March last year.

QUETTA: At least four persons were killed and four others were injured on Wednesday when an improvised explosive device (IED) explosion targeted a tribal elder in southwestern Pakistan, a police and government official confirmed.
The blast occurred in Naal, a small town located 55 kilometers from Khuzdar city in Pakistan’s restive southwestern Balochistan province on Wednesday.
Yasir Iqbal Dashti, Khuzdar deputy commissioner, told Arab News that the explosion was caused by explosives fitted inside a motorcycle. A Baloch tribal elder Samad Sumalani was the target of the attack, Dashti said.
“Four people were killed and four others injured after the IED exploded in a crowded street of Naal town,” Dashti said.
Bahawal Khan Pandrani, the station house officer (SHO) of the Naal Police Station, said unknown persons parked the explosive-laden motorbike near a garage where Sumalani was repairing his vehicle at the Naal Bazaar. Sumalani suffered minor injuries in the attack, he said. 
“Two vehicles and two motorbikes caught fire after the blast and turned into ashes,” Pandrani said. 
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack but suspicion is likely to fall on ethnic Baloch separatist groups, mainly the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), which often target tribal elders they see as backed by the state. 
Gas-and-rich Balochistan, which shares porous borders with Iran and Afghanistan, has long faced a low-level insurgency led by separatist groups like the BLA, who accuse Islamabad of exploiting the province’s natural resources, such as gold and copper, while neglecting the local population.
Pakistani governments deny these allegations, saying that it has prioritized Balochistan’s development through investments in health, education and infrastructure projects.
The BLA has emerged as a significant security threat in recent years, carrying out major attacks in Balochistan and Sindh provinces while targeting security forces, ethnic Punjabis and Chinese nationals working on development projects.
The latest attack in Khuzdar happened two days after a suicide attack targeting Pakistan’s security forces in Balochistan’s Kalat, carried out by a woman, killed one paramilitary soldier and injured four others.