ISLAMABAD (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump said Sunday he will solve the Afghanistan-Pakistan crisis “very quickly,” as peace talks between the warring neighbors entered a second day.
The two countries are embroiled in a bitter security row, with each side saying they were responding to aggression from the other during clashes earlier this month.
It was the deadliest fighting between them in several years, marking a low point in relations while also causing alarm in a region where armed groups like al-Qaida are trying to resurface.
Pakistan accuses Afghanistan of turning a blind eye to militants who cross the border for attacks, a charge the country’s Taliban rulers reject.
The second round of talks between them began in Istanbul on Saturday, focusing on transforming a fragile ceasefire, achieved earlier this month in Doha, into a durable framework for peace and border security.
“I heard that Pakistan and Afghanistan have started up,” said Trump on the sidelines of the ASEAN Summit in Malaysia. ”But I’ll get that solved very quickly.”
He made the comments while attending the signing of a peace agreement between Thailand and Cambodia, adding that the leaders of Pakistan were “great people.”
Pakistan's army said Sunday it had killed 25 militants while “repelling two major infiltration attempts” along the border, even as delegations were talking in Istanbul. It also said five Pakistani soldiers had died during exchanges of fire.
It was not possible to verify the casualty figures as the area is remote and off-limits to the media.
Fighting earlier this month killed dozens of people and injured hundreds in Afghanistan, although Pakistan denied attacking civilians and said it was targeting militants and their hideouts.
Taliban-controlled media RTA reported Sunday that, after 15 hours of “continuous discussions,” the Afghan side had submitted a draft focusing on Pakistan not violating Afghanistan’s territory and airspace and not allowing “any anti-Afghan group or opposition to use Pakistani territory against our country.”
There was also an expression of readiness to establish “a four-way channel to monitor the ceasefire agreement” and exchange information on violations, RTA reported.
The Pakistanis submitted a second draft to the Afghans on Saturday evening, according to RTA.
Nobody from the Pakistani government was immediately available for comment. But Trump’s remarks are likely to energize the country’s political and military leadership, which wants closer ties with the White House.
Pakistan has also praised Trump for his role in defusing a crisis earlier this year with India.
Pakistan’s border regions have experienced violence since 1979, when it became a frontline state in the U.S.-backed war against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan.
Associated Press writers Sajjad Tarakzai contributed to this report from Islamabad and Abdul Qahar Afghan from Jalalabad, Afghanistan.
President Donald Trump speaks during the ASEAN US Summit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Sunday, Oct. 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian, Pool)
Trucks loaded with goods are parked near the closed Spin Boldak border crossing with Pakistan, after the border was shut for nearly two weeks following clashes between Afghan and Pakistani forces, in Kandahar province, Afghanistan, Thursday, Oct. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Sibghatullah)
People wait near the closed gate at the Spin Boldak border crossing with Pakistan, after the border was shut for nearly two weeks following clashes between Afghan and Pakistani forces, in Kandahar province, Afghanistan, Thursday, Oct. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Sibghatullah)
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela’s acting President Delcy Rodríguez is set Thursday to deliver her first state of the union speech, addressing an anxious country as she navigates competing pressures from the United States – which toppled her predecessor less than two weeks ago – and a government loyal to former President Nicolás Maduro.
The speech comes one day after Rodríguez said her government would continue releasing prisoners detained under Maduro in what she described as “a new political moment” since his ouster by the United States earlier this month.
In her address to the National Assembly, which is controlled by the country's ruling party, Rodríguez is expected to explain her vision for her government, including potential changes to the state-owned oil industry that U.S. President Donald Trump has promised to reinvigorate since Maduro’s seizure.
On Thursday, Trump was set to meet at the White House with Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, whose political party is widely considered to have won 2024 elections rejected by Maduro. But in endorsing Rodríguez, who served as Maduro’s vice president since 2018, Trump has sidelined Machado.
After acknowledging a Tuesday call with Trump, Rodríguez said on state television that her government would use “every dollar” earned from oil sales to overhaul the nation’s public health care system. Hospitals and other health care facilities across the country have long been crumbling, and patients are asked to provide practically all supplies needed for their care, from syringes to surgical screws.
The acting president must walk a tightrope, balancing pressures from both Washington and top Venezuelan officials who hold sway over Venezuela's security forces and strongly oppose the U.S. Her recent public speeches reflect those tensions — vacillating from conciliatory calls for cooperation with the U.S., to defiant rants echoing the anti-imperialist rhetoric of her toppled predecessor.
American authorities have long railed against a government they describe as a “dictatorship,” while Venezuela’s government has built a powerful populist ethos sharply opposed to U.S. meddling in its affairs.
For the foreseeable future, Rodríguez's government has been effectively relieved of having to hold elections. That's because when Venezuela’s high court granted Rodríguez presidential powers on an acting basis, it cited a provision of the constitution that allows the vice president to take over for a renewable period of 90 days.
Trump enlisted Rodríguez to help secure U.S. control over Venezuela’s oil sales despite sanctioning her for human rights violations during his first term. To ensure she does his bidding, Trump threatened Rodríguez earlier this month with a “situation probably worse than Maduro.”
Maduro, who is being held in a Brooklyn jail, has pleaded not guilty to drug-trafficking charges.
Before Rodríguez’s speech on Thursday, a group of government supporters was allowed into the presidential palace, where they chanted for Maduro, who the government insists remains the country’s president. “Maduro, resist, the people are rising,” they shouted.
Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america
Venezuela's acting President Delcy Rodriguez makes a statement to the press at Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)
Venezuela's acting President Delcy Rodriguez, center, smiles flanked by Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, right, and National Assembly President Jorge Rodriguez after making a statement to the press at Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)
