SpaDeX mission: ISRO’s PSLV-C60 rocket lifts off to test docking
SpaDeX mission is a cost-effective technology demonstrator mission for the demonstration of in-space docking using two small spacecraft launched by PSLV.
Smugglers abandon two migrant girls at southern border with note to authorities
Smugglers abandoned two migrant children at the southern border in Texas this week, fleeing back to Mexico as Texas authorities came to the little girls’ rescue, amid continued concerns about the numbers of unaccompanied minors coming across the border. The Texas Department of Public Safety said that its troopers had recovered the two little girls, who are five and nine years old, after the smuggler had abandoned them and fled back to Mexico. The girls, from El Salvador, carried only a note with an address and phone number, and were then referred to U.S. Border Patrol. ICE DEPORTATIONS CATCH UP TO TRUMP-ERA NUMBERS IN FY 2024 AS BIDEN ADMIN COMES TO A CLOSE The incident taps into ongoing concerns about unaccompanied migrant children coming across the border, with numbers increasing significantly during the recent migrant crisis. There have been a number of incidents of abandoned children being rescued, often with phone numbers or addresses of relatives or others written on paper or stitched into clothing. When children arrive unaccompanied, they are transferred eventually to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and released to sponsors in the U.S. The issue made headlines earlier this year when the DHS Office of Inspector General sent a report to Congress finding that, over the past five years, more than 32,000 unaccompanied migrant children [UCs] had not shown up for immigration court hearings, and that Immigration and Customs Enforcement could not account for the location of all of those who did not appear. “During our ongoing audit to assess ICE’s ability to monitor the location and status of UCs who were released or transferred from the custody of the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), we learned ICE transferred more than 448,000 UCs to HHS from fiscal years 2019 to 2023,” the internal watchdog reported. TRUMP’S TRANSITION TEAM EYES EXPANSION OF ANKLE MONITORS FOR ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS NOT IN CUSTODY “However, ICE was not able to account for the location of all UCs who were released by HHS and did not appear as scheduled in immigration court. ICE reported more than 32,000 UCs failed to appear for their immigration court hearings from FYs 2019 to 2023,” it said. CLICK HERE FOR MORE COVERAGE OF THE BORDER SECURITY CRISIS The watchdog also found that approximately 291,000 unaccompanied migrant children have not yet been marked for removal proceedings, because ICE has routinely failed to schedule immigration court dates and serve notices. ICEs FY 2024 report found that, despite the surge of more than 500,000 unaccompanied migrant children into the U.S. during the Biden administration, just 411 were removed in FY 2024, an increase from the 212 in FY 2023. For comparison, more than 4,000 were removed in FY 2022.
Jimmy Carter ‘killer rabbit attack’ story highlighted his struggles as president
After the passing of 100-year-old former President Jimmy Carter, many are recalling the “killer rabbit” incident in which Carter had to fight off a berserk swamp creature while fishing in his hometown of Plains, Georgia. The bizarre incident occurred in April 1979 but was not known to the public until months later when, according to an account by then White House Press Secretary Jody Powell, the press official shared the story with reporter Brooks Jackson. After the story broke, it captured the American imagination and came to be seen as emblematic of the Carter presidency, which many perceived as ineffective and flailing. Sensationalized headlines ran across the country such as the Washington Post’s “Bunny Goes Bugs. Rabbit Attacks President” and the New York Times’s “A Tale of Carter and the ‘Killer Rabbit.’” TRIBUTES POUR IN FROM CONGRESSIONAL LAWMAKERS AFTER JIMMY CARTER’S DEATH: ‘A GREAT HUMANITARIAN’ The story, which is backed by a photograph taken by a White House staffer, goes that Carter, while fishing near Plains, suddenly noticed a large swamp rabbit swimming quickly toward him. Powell said that “this large, wet animal, making strange hissing noises and gnashing its teeth, was intent upon climbing into the Presidential boat.” Carter used a paddle to splash water at the creature, causing it to change course and swim away. The New York Times reported in August 1979 that the rabbit had “penetrated Secret Service security and attacked President Carter,” forcing him to “beat back the animal with a canoe paddle.” The outlet reported one White House staffer saying, “the President was swinging for his life.” The picture, which was not released by the White House until after Carter lost his re-election effort to Ronald Reagan in 1980, shows the now-deceased president splashing water as a large rabbit, its ears poking out of the water, swims away. JIMMY CARTER, FORMER US PRESIDENT, REMEMBERED IN SPORTS WORLD AFTER DEATH Carter’s account of the incident is somewhat less dramatic. The deceased president said: “A rabbit was being chased by hounds and he jumped in the water and swam toward my boat. When he got almost there, I splashed some water with a paddle and the rabbit turned and went on and crawled out on the other side.” However, that did not stop national and local media outlets from running the story about the “killer rabbit” far and wide. In 1979, Carter was in the middle of his one-term presidency. He was facing several difficulties both at home and abroad, including an energy crisis and economic issues and the Iran hostage crisis. Amid these troubles, Carter’s approval ratings took a dramatic dip, and he reached some of the highest disapproval numbers of his entire presidency. BIDEN USES FORMER PRESIDENT JIMMY CARTER’S DEATH TO CRITICIZE TRUMP IN A VERBAL SPAR AND MORE TOP HEADLINES While newspaper accounts of the “banzai bunny” and cartoons of giant, bucktoothed rabbits were clearly fanciful, many came to see the whole story as a sort of metaphor for Carter’s struggling presidency. Powell, who originally thought of the incident as an innocent, comical story, later said he had come to regret his decision to share it with the press because of the way it was used to portray the president as so weak and inept that he was even afraid of a bunny. Powell described the events as a “nightmare” in his 1985 memoir “The Other Side of the Story.” “It still makes my flesh crawl to think I could have been so foolish, I thought it was funny,” he wrote. “Had I been doing my job, I would have stopped the President at that moment, pointed out the dangers to him and his administration if such a story ever got out. . . . Sadly, I did nothing of the kind.” Carter, a Democrat, served as the nation’s 39th president from 1977 to 1981. He was the longest-living president in U.S. history, passing away at the age of 100 in his home in Plains on Dec. 29 at 3:45 p.m. An outspoken Christian, Carter was known for his significant humanitarian efforts after his presidency and was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize in 2002.
U.S. appeals court upholds Trump verdict in E. Jean Carroll defamation case
A federal appeals court on Monday upheld a jury’s verdict finding Donald Trump liable for sexually abusing the writer E. Jean Carroll in the 1990s—delivering a blow to the president-elect, and leaving him on the hook for the $5 million payout ordered by the jury. A three-judge panel for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit said Monday in an unsigned opinion that Trump had failed to demonstrate “that the district court erred in any of the challenged rulings” and “has not carried his burden to show that any claimed error or combination of claimed errors affected his substantial rights as required to warrant a new trial.” The decision comes after a New York jury last year found Trump liable for sexually abusing Carroll, a former Elle magazine advice columnist, in the dressing room of a Bergdorf Goodman store in the mid-1990s—and for subsequently defaming her when she came forward with her story during his first term in office. In a separate case, Trump was also ordered by a jury to pay Carroll more than $80 million in damages for the defamatory statements made in his first term in the White House, though the president-elect’s appeal of that decision is still pending. The decision was praised by Carroll’s attorney, Roberta Kaplan. “Both E. Jean Carroll and I are gratified by today’s decision,” Kaplan said in a statement. “We thank the Second Circuit for its careful consideration of the parties’ arguments.” The Trump transition team were quick to respond to the decision Monday, which they vowed to appeal. They also took aim at what they described as the “political weaponization” of the courts. “The American People have re-elected President Trump with an overwhelming mandate, and they demand an immediate end to the political weaponization of our justice system and a swift dismissal of all of the Witch Hunts, including the Democrat-funded Carroll Hoax, which will continue to be appealed,” Trump transition spokesman and incoming White House communications director Steven Cheung told Fox News in a statement Monday. “We look forward to uniting our country in the new administration as President Trump makes America great again,” Cheung added. This is a breaking news story. Check back soon for updates.
Germany accuses Elon Musk of trying to interfere in its national elections
German government officials accused Tesla founder Elon Musk on Monday of attempting to interfere in the country’s upcoming parliamentary elections on behalf of the country’s far-right political party, citing recent social media posts and a weekend op-ed doubling down on his endorsement. Musk has attempted to bill the German Alternative for Germany (AfD) political party as the party best positioned to usher in a fiscally responsible economy in Germany—praising the party’s approach to regulations and taxes, while also strenuously defending against allegations of radicalism and neo-Nazi ties. His comments have sparked the ire of top German government officials, who noted Monday that the timing comes just weeks ahead of Germany’s snap parliamentary elections—and are, in their view, clearly intended to influence a German audience, regardless of whether Musk’s messaging accomplishes that goal. RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT SAYS IT IS WILLING TO IMPROVE TIES—BUT ONUS IS ON TRUMP TO MAKE FIRST MOVE “It is indeed the case that Elon Musk is trying to influence the federal election,” German government spokesperson Christiane Hoffmann told reporters at a press briefing Monday. Hoffmann said that Musk is free to express his opinion, adding: “After all, freedom of opinion also covers the greatest nonsense.” Musk has come under sharp criticism for his apparent endorsement for the Alternative for Germany political party just weeks before it holds snap parliamentary elections in February. Musk has railed against German Chancellor Olaf Scholz this fall as a “fool.” Musk also praised the AfD last week on his social media platform, X, writing: “Only the AfD can save Germany.” Musk doubled down on his endorsement in an op-ed published in the German center-right newspaper, Welt am Sonntag. “The portrayal of the AfD as right-wing extremist is clearly false, considering that Alice Weidel, the party’s leader, has a same-sex partner from Sri Lanka! Does that sound like Hitler to you? Please!” Musk said of AfD co-chair Alice Weidel. He added that in his view, the AfD “can lead the country into a future where economic prosperity, cultural integrity and technological innovation are not just wishes, but reality.” Those remarks have sparked criticism from current and former U.S. lawmakers, and from leaders in Berlin, who noted the party’s reputation as a neo-Nazi group. German health minister Karl Lauterbach, also a member of the Social Democratic party (SPD), criticized Musk’s intervention as “undignified and highly problematic.” TRUMP URGED TO STEP IN TO UNITE GOP AS LAWMAKERS FEAR SPEAKER SHOWDOWN COULD DELAY ELECTION CERTIFICATION All mainstream German political parties have ruled out working with the AfD, and its youth wing was designated as a “confirmed extremist” group by Germany’s domestic intelligence agency earlier this year. The AfD, for its part, has rejected that characterization. The pushback from U.S. and German officials has done little to deter Musk, who used his op-ed to argue that the German economy is crippled by regulatory overreach and bureaucracy, describing the Alternative for Germany (AfD) as “the last spark of hope for this country.” “The traditional parties have failed in Germany,” Musk wrote in the op-ed of Germany’s SPD and other mainstream parties. “Their policies have led to economic stagnation, social unrest, and the erosion of national identity.” The decision to run Musks’s op-ed in a center-right newspaper was heavily criticized and prompted Welt am Sonntag’s opinion editor, Eva Marie Kogel, to announce her resignation.
Trump hails Florida Dem’s decision to ditch party, join GOP: ‘THANK YOU HILLARY!’
President-elect Donald Trump congratulated and thanked Florida state Rep. Hillary Cassel after the Sunshine State lawmaker announced her decision to dump her Democratic Party affiliation and join the GOP. “Today, I am announcing my decision to change my party affiliation from Democrat to Republican,” Cassel said in a statement. “I will be joining the Republican Conference of the Florida House of Representatives because I believe in their vision for a better, more prosperous Florida.” In a statement hailing the move, Trump urged more Democrats to defect. DESANTIS WELCOMES FLORIDA STATE LAWMAKER TO REPUBLICAN PARTY AS SHE DITCHES DEMOCRATS “Congratulations to Hillary Cassel for becoming the second State Representative from the Great State of Florida to switch her Party affiliation from Democrat to Republican, once more expanding the GOP Supermajority in the State House! I would further like to invite other Disillusioned Democrats to switch Parties, and join us on this noble quest to Save our Country and, Make America Great Again – GREATER THAN EVER BEFORE. THANK YOU HILLARY!” Trump exclaimed in a Truth Social post. Cassel’s announcement came after fellow Florida state Rep. Susan Valdés announced earlier this month that she was switching her registration from Democrat to Republican. While seeking office in 2022, Cassel described herself as a “proud Democrat,” “pro-choice champion,” and “faithful ally of the LGBTQ+ community.” FLORIDA BANS CHILDREN UNDER 14 FROM SOCIAL MEDIA She also pledged that she would “stand up to #ClimateChange deniers” and “stand up to the NRA and fight for a ban on military style assault rifles and the high capacity ammunition that make them so lethal.” But now Cassel says the Democratic Party does not reflect her values. “As a mother, I want to help build a world where our children are judged on their character and their actions not on their labels,” she noted in her statement. “As a proud Jewish woman, I have been increasingly troubled by the Democratic Party’s failure to unequivocally support Israel and its willingness to tolerate extreme progressive voices that justify or condone acts of terrorism. I’m constantly troubled by the inability of the current Democratic Party to relate to everyday Floridians. I can no longer remain in a party that doesn’t represent my values. TRUMP-BACKED CANDIDATE AIMING TO REPLACE MATT GAETZ WANTS FLORIDA TO ADOPT GOLD AND SILVER AS LEGAL TENDER “I know I won’t always agree on every detail with every Republican, but I do know that I will always have input, collaboration, and respect. The House Republican Conference empowers members to find common sense solutions to real issues facing all Floridians. They welcome different ideas and collaboration, which is the cornerstone of effective government. Those are my values,” Cassel noted.
Trump gives Johnson ‘complete and total endorsement’ ahead of speakership fight
President-elect Donald Trump gave his “complete” and “total” endorsement of Mike Johnson ahead of next month’s expected fight to hold onto the House speakership. “The American people need IMMEDIATE relief from all of the destructive policies of the last Administration. Speaker Mike Johnson is a good, hard working, religious man,” Trump wrote on TRUTHSocial Monday. “He will do the right thing, and we will continue to WIN. Mike has my Complete & Total Endorsement. MAGA!!!” Trump, championing the GOP as “the Party of COMMON SENSE,” also included a warning to Republicans. “We ran a flawless campaign, having spent FAR LESS, with lots of money left over. They ran a very expensive ‘sinking ship,’ embracing DOJ & FBI WEAPONIZATION against their political opponent, ME. BUT IT DIDN’T WORK, IT WAS A DISASTER!!!” Trump wrote, adding: “LETS NOT BLOW THIS GREAT OPPORTUNITY WHICH WE HAVE BEEN GIVEN.” JOHNSON ALLIES URGE TRUMP TO INTERVENE AS MESSY SPEAKER BATTLE THREATENS TO DELAY 2024 CERTIFICATION Deeming his win as the culmination of a “magnificent and historic Presidential Election of 2024,” Trump reiterated how he and Vice President-elect JD Vance picked up seven swing states, 317 electoral college votes and the popular vote by millions of voters. Trump also decried how it took several weeks after Election Day before the state of California certified its results. THE HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO FAILING TO ELECT A HOUSE SPEAKER QUICKLY He pointed out how Vice President Kamala Harris’ failed presidential campaign shelled out millions of dollars for celebrity endorsements. “Republicans are being praised for having run a ‘legendary’ campaign! Democrats are being excoriated for their effort, having wasted 2.5 Billion Dollars, much of it unaccounted for, with some being used to illegally buy endorsements,” he wrote. ($11,000,000 to Beyoncé, who never even sang a song, $2,000,000 to Oprah for doing next to nothing, and even $500,000 to Reverend AL, a professional con man and instigator, who agreed to ‘interview’ their ‘star spangled’ candidates, Kamala and Joe).” This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
Jimmy Carter nears the top of America’s ‘Most Admired Man’ list, according to Gallup
When it comes to Gallup’s “Most Admired Man list,” Jimmy Carter is number three in the top 10 finishes, behind only Rev. Billy Graham and Ronald Reagan. From 1946 to 2020, Carter made the list 29 times, according to Gallup. Carter, the nation’s 39th president, died Sunday, Dec. 29, at the age of 100. He served a single term as president, and will also be remembered for his decades of humanitarian work. “When Gallup asked Americans to retrospectively evaluate Carter’s presidency in June 2023, 57% said they approved of the job he did, and 36% disapproved,” a Gallup blog reads. “His retrospective approval ranks in the bottom half of presidents, better than Nixon and Trump, but similar to George W. Bush and Bill Clinton.” JIMMY CARTER, 39TH PRESIDENT, REMEMBERED FOR HIS INTEGRITY AND DEVOTION TO HUMANITY Carter earned a Nobel Peace Prize in 2002 “for his decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development,” its website states. The Plains, Georgia, native undertook peace negotiations, campaigned for human rights and worked for social welfare while President George W. Bush was planning war on Iraq in the fall of 2002. BIDEN TAKES JAB AT TRUMP WHILE APPLAUDING JIMMY CARTER’S DECENCY, SHARES FONDEST MEMORY WITH LATE PRESIDENT “According to the Chairman of the Nobel Committee, Carter ought to have been awarded the Prize as early as in 1978, when he successfully mediated a peace agreement between Egypt and Israel,” the Nobel Prize website says. “As ex-President, Carter conducted an active peace and mediation campaign which sometimes seemed to run counter to official US policy.” The Carter Center, which Carter opened with his wife, Rosalynn, in 1982, has been a pioneer of election observation, monitoring at least 113 elections in Africa, Latin America, and Asia since 1989. In perhaps its most widely hailed public health effort, the organization recently announced that only 14 human cases of Guinea worm disease were reported in all of 2021, the result of years of public health campaigns to improve access to safe drinking water in Africa. For his humanitarian work, Craig Shirley, a Reagan biographer and historian, said Carter will be remembered as “one of the best ex-presidents of the 20th century.” “We’re going to remember him kindly. He was a terrific former president with what he did with the Carter Center and the various initiatives around the country. His book writing stands out [as does] his charitable works. So, he goes down in his history as an extraordinarily good former president.” The Associated Press contributed to this report.
The end of fear in Syria
Damascus and Aleppo, Syria – Until the fall of the al-Assad regime, the word “dollar” was forbidden in public. Instead, people used anything green – my favourite substitute was “molokhiyeh”, the green leaf eaten in a stew in Arab countries. This was a story I heard many times from Syrians when reporting from Aleppo and Damascus in the days following the regime’s overthrow. Under the former regime, the walls had ears and anyone could be listening on a street corner or the other end of the phone line. The wrong phrase or word – “dollar”, for example – could land you in one of al-Assad’s notorious prisons. Now, with the House of al-Assad in exile, a sudden freedom burst through that had not been possible in the last five and a half decades of dynastic family rule. Syrians I met understood how fragile and fleeting such freedom of expression could be – many telling me a few days of experiencing it were enough to never want to go back. “Before, you would get your rights through connections and bribery,” Yamen Sheikh Mukhaneq, 21, said, standing outside the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus on the first Friday prayer after the regime’s collapse. Advertisement A smile beaming on his face as worshippers pushed past us, the law student added: “Now, God willing, because of this liberation, I have hope.” Fighters on a tank in Aleppo [Ali Haj Suleiman/Al Jazeera] While I’ve reported on Syria a lot since I started in 2011, and spoken to many Syrians in Lebanon, Jordan, Turkiye, Egypt, the United States, France and elsewhere, I’d never reported from Syria itself. Walking under pomegranate and lemon trees in the streets of Old Damascus and peering into abandoned courtyards brought to life, so many stories I’d heard from Syrians of what had been taken away from them in exile sprang to my mind. It was surreal, something I could never have imagined even two weeks earlier. I began to imagine an alternative reality where my wife and I would take day trips to Damascus from Beirut to visit friends or marvel at the historic neighbourhoods, or even drive through Syria to Iraq, Jordan or Turkiye. No more one-man rule Syria is free and open, and in this renewed nation, there is much hope. Fighters I interviewed in Aleppo, who had been exiled as children and returned as liberators, expressed unbridled joy at being able to stand once again at the footsteps of the city’s historic Citadel. But with new freedom, there are concerns and pitfalls. After all, any Syrian in the country who is less than 60 years old will not know what life is like under anything other than a repressive, autocratic authority. On Friday, December 20, I pushed through the packed crowd at the Citadel of Aleppo with Yousef Ahmad, a professor of accounting at Aleppo University. Advertisement Ahmad was buoyant that the old regime had fallen but wary of repeating old mistakes. The most important thing, he told me, is not to place any individual above the country. An image of Syria’s Bashar al-Assad is damaged by bullet holes [Ammar Awad/Reuters] The cult of personality around the al-Assads must never be replicated with a new leadership, he said. Until now, the new administration’s Commander-in-Chief Ahmed al-Sharaa’s image has been limited to an occasional car with his likeness in its rear window. The poisonous cult of personality is a central part of the al-Assad legacy, as is the brutal police state which disappeared thousands, led to millions of displaced, and deeply policed any expression, including the word “dollar”. While US dollars (and Turkish lira) are now being accepted in establishments around the country, there are still concerns that free expression and other hard-won rights will be lost. In Saadallah al-Jabri Square, in Aleppo’s city centre, families pushed strollers between street vendors selling the green, white and black flags of Syria. Many were euphoric, speaking of the need for a democratic Syria that represented all its sects and ethnic groups. ‘I tell you, Syria will be fine’ One older couple had come to the square with their adult son to check out the atmosphere. They told me they were happy to be rid of the regime. “For 13 years, he sat on his chair and didn’t do anything,” they told me. Still, as Christians, they worry about their vulnerability as minorities. Because of that, they didn’t want to share with me their names or have my colleague, Ali Haj Suleiman, take their photos. Advertisement Until now, the new administration run by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham’s Ahmed al-Sharaa, formerly known as Abu Mohammed al-Julani, had made only positive moves, they told me. “We want to get rid of the idea of sectarianism that was planted 15 years ago,” their son, a hairdresser, said. At a bar in the city, people joked about armed fighters shooting up their establishment. A few people, dressed conservatively, had come around to ask if the bar served alcohol, the owner said, adding that he was never sure if they were coming for a drink or for less amicable reasons. Father Hanna Jallouf lived under HTS in Idlib [Ali Haj Suleiman/Al Jazeera] Father Hanna Jallouf, the Apostolic Vicar of Aleppo and the Roman Catholic Church’s leading religious figure in Syria, is also concerned. I found Jallouf’s history interesting in that he lived under HTS in Idlib and had even been kidnapped by Jabhat al-Nusra in 2014 for five days. Jabhat al-Nusra was al-Qaeda’s branch in Syria but broke with it in 2016 and reformulated itself as Hayat Tahrir al-Sham. Jallouf said he understands the fear in his followers and other minorities but that he had received assurances that Christian religious symbols would not be touched. He also has personal experience with Ahmed al-Sharaa, having lived in Idlib while al-Sharaa led the administration there, and has also met with the HTS leader. “The man was first of all honest and wants what is best for his country,” Jallouf said.
As Pakistan, Afghanistan attack each other, what’s next for neighbours?
Islamabad, Pakistan – A sharp escalation in hostilities between Pakistan and Afghanistan over the past week has resulted in the death of at least one member of the Pakistani security forces and dozens of civilians in Afghanistan. This latest round of cross-border fighting stems from what Pakistan insisted was its response to regular attacks by the armed group Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which Islamabad said has found sanctuary across the border in Afghanistan. The most recent TTP attack, on December 21, led to the deaths of at least 16 Pakistani soldiers. Pakistani military sources confirmed to Al Jazeera that on Tuesday, Pakistan launched air strikes in Afghanistan’s Paktia province, which borders Pakistan’s tribal district of South Waziristan. Pakistani jets reportedly targeted hideouts where TTP fighters had sought refuge. However, Afghanistan’s Taliban government, in power since August 2021, accused Pakistan of killing at least 46 civilians, including women and children, in the air strikes. Advertisement In response, the Afghan government promised “retaliation”. On Saturday, Afghan Taliban forces claimed to have targeted “several points” near the Durand Line, the contested border between the two nations. However, as the guns quiet down on both sides, a familiar question has arisen: What is next for these two neighbours, entangled in a decades-long, fraught and fragile relationship? Cooperation and conflict For decades, Pakistan was considered a patron of the Afghan Taliban, who first came to power in 1996. Pakistan was believed to wield significant influence over the group, providing it with shelter, funding and diplomatic backing. After the United States-led invasion of Afghanistan after the 9/11 attacks, many Afghan Taliban leaders sought refuge in Pakistan. Amid American drone strikes in Pakistan’s border regions, the TTP, often called the Pakistan Taliban, emerged. Despite sharing ideological ties with the Afghan Taliban, the TTP launched a violent campaign against the Pakistani state. The Pakistani military has conducted several operations to eliminate the TTP, pushing many of its leaders into Afghanistan. When the Afghan Taliban regained control of Kabul in 2021, Pakistan hoped to leverage its historic ties to curb TTP activity. However, a surge in attacks within Pakistan since then suggests these efforts have failed. A former Pakistani ambassador and special representative to Afghanistan, Asif Durrani, believes the Afghan Taliban face significant challenges in managing the TTP and other groups, such as the ISIL (ISIS) affiliate in Khorasan Province. Advertisement “The Afghan Taliban must decide whether to support the TTP or prioritise their relationship with Pakistan,” Durrani told Al Jazeera. “They often reject assistance to tackle these groups while boasting about their ability to handle them independently.” Journalist and analyst Sami Yousafzai, who has extensively reported on the region, said that keeping the conflict at a simmer suits both governments, even if discourse on social media appears to indicate that a major escalation is right around the corner. “I don’t think either side wants to worsen the situation. However, the Pakistani military faced pressure – both public and internal – following repeated TTP attacks and needed to demonstrate retaliatory action, even if it didn’t significantly weaken the TTP,” Yousafzai told Al Jazeera. This is not the first time Pakistan has targeted alleged TTP hideouts in Afghanistan. Similar air strikes occurred in March but did not provoke a direct response from Afghanistan’s government. However, the latest tit-for-tat has evoked comparisons with what transpired between Pakistan and Iran in January when the two countries bombed each other’s border areas. Manzar Zaidi, a Lahore-based researcher on conflict in the region, said neither side can afford to escalate this conflict into anything bigger. “Compared to the exchange of strikes with Iran earlier this year, Pakistan has much higher stakes with Afghanistan, and air strikes last week can be seen as sending a message rather than a serious attempt at escalation,” Zaidi told Al Jazeera. Advertisement “As we saw with the Iranian strikes, these led to dialogue between the two countries, and there is a chance that the two countries could get on the negotiating table,” he added. Failing diplomacy? The latest air strikes occurred while Mohammad Sadiq, Pakistan’s special representative to Afghanistan, was in Kabul meeting with senior Afghan officials. Both nations have engaged in high-level diplomatic meetings over the past two years, including visits by Pakistan’s defence minister and chief of its intelligence agency, Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), in February last year. Three months, acting Afghan Minister for Foreign Affairs Amir Khan Muttaqi made a trip to Islamabad, where he also held talks with General Asim Munir, the Pakistani army chief. Despite these efforts, violence within Pakistan has continued unabated. According to Pakistan’s Ministry of Interior, more than 1,500 violent incidents in the first 10 months of this year killed at least 924 people, including 570 law enforcement personnel and 351 civilians. The Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies reported 856 attacks in 2024, surpassing the 645 incidents recorded in 2023. Durrani said the Afghan Taliban needs to understand the consequences of strained relations with Pakistan. “They must recognise that they are no longer ‘freedom fighters’ but a government with significant responsibilities toward their people and neighbours. No country will tolerate Afghan soil being used against them,” he said. Zaidi echoed this sentiment, noting that the Afghan Taliban’s aspirations for international legitimacy could prevent further escalation. Advertisement “Afghanistan also seeks stronger ties with China, Pakistan’s key ally, which incentivises them to de-escalate,” Zaidi said. However, Yousafzai cautioned that Pakistan also needs to act more responsibly as a democratic and nuclear-armed state. “There may be frustration in Pakistan’s strategic circles. After decades of supporting the Afghan Taliban, they haven’t received the outcomes they anticipated,” Yousafzai said. “Missiles and air strikes will not resolve this conflict – something that should have been learnt during the US’s so-called war on rerror.” The one plausible path for reconciliation, according to Yousafzai, is for Pakistan to stop “pursuing their doctrine of strategic depth” in Afghanistan. Historically, the Pakistani military has sought to maintain influence in Afghanistan, providing patronage to armed groups to hold leverage against India, its