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ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has secured a rare position as the lead mediator in what major news outlets are calling one of the year&#39;s &ldquo;most significant diplomatic achievements&rdquo;: a historic peace agreement between the United States and Iran, set to be signed on June 19. The deal, announced by Islamabad on Monday, marks a huge shift in regional dynamics and has drawn unprecedented international recognition for Pakistan&#39;s diplomatic role. From Beijing to Brussels, leaders have publicly thanked Islamabad for brokering the landmark agreement to end months of conflict between Washington and Tehran. Major global media outlets have uniformly documented Pakistan&#39;s central role. Axios described it as the &quot;world&#39;s biggest diplomatic breakthrough.&quot; Al Jazeera reported that Pakistan &quot;mediated&quot; the agreement through &quot;intense mediation&quot; and &quot;last-minute talks,&quot; noting that Qatar itself &quot;credited its partnership with Pakistan in helping a memorandum of understanding come to fruition.&quot; The BBC, Reuters, CNBC, and France 24 all confirmed Pakistan&#39;s role as a mediator. Forbes went further, identifying Pakistan as &quot;the country that has been the lead mediator in negotiations.&quot; Chinese state media Xinhua characterized the process as &quot;intensive diplomatic efforts involving Pakistan,&quot; marking &quot;a significant diplomatic breakthrough.&quot; ABC News Australia provided insight into why Islamabad succeeded where others could not. In an opinion piece published by the outlet, the writer noted that &quot;Pakistan is drawing on a set of relationships few countries can replicate,&quot; positioned as &quot;a willing broker in a conflict that is rapidly destabilizing the region.&quot; Pakistani leadership maintained direct contact with all sides, giving what ABC described as unique &quot;credibility on both sides&quot;; a position neither the US nor Iran could secure independently. The writer attributed Pakistan&#39;s success to its rare geopolitical position: a strategic partner of the United States with historical ties to Iran, coupled with deep influence across the Muslim world. This combination allowed Islamabad to build the diplomatic bridge that more established players could not construct. Even India&#39;s NDTV acknowledged Pakistan&#39;s achievement, noting the country&#39;s &quot;crucial role&quot; in bringing the parties to an agreement. The signing ceremony scheduled for Friday will formalize what multiple international outlets are calling a watershed moment in global diplomacy, cementing Pakistan&#39;s emergence as a central player in resolving one of the world&#39;s most pressing conflicts.

Foreign Affairs

Major international media outlets have highlighted Pakistan's mediation efforts in advancing a US-Iran peace agreement, drawing global attention to Islamabad's diplomatic role ahead of the deal's expected signing.

US-Iran talks: How Pakistan's mediation captured global media attention

NEW YORK: A former Afghan Taliban commander charged by the United States with abducting a journalist and killing American troops in 2008 was sentenced Tuesday to 42 years in prison. Haji Majibullah, 50, was accused by US prosecutors of kidnapping an American journalist, identified as New York Times journalist David Rohde, and two Afghan civilians. He was also charged with the deaths of three US soldiers and an Afghan interpreter in an attack by forces under his command in June 2008. Arrested in Ukraine, he was extradited to the United States in 2020. He pleaded guilty last year to hostage taking and providing material support for acts of terrorism resulting in death, according to a Justice Department statement. &quot;Those who harm Americans and engage in acts of terrorism will be hunted down and brought to justice, no matter how long it takes,&quot; Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in the statement. Rohde was kidnapped in Afghanistan in November 2008, along with a translator and a driver. According to the Times, which managed to keep the news of his kidnapping secret so as not to endanger him, Rohde managed to escape from his captors in June 2009. Hassan Khan, a senior journalist and Afghanistan specialist, said the 42-year sentence will damage the Taliban&rsquo;s international image and could set a precedent for future prosecutions of Taliban leaders.&nbsp; &ldquo;This sentence is signaling that American courts &mdash; and possibly European courts in future &mdash; can arrest and charge Taliban leaders for actions dating back to their two-decade campaign against US and NATO forces,&rdquo; Khan said, noting the case&rsquo;s ransom and hostage elements that echo broader accusations of &ldquo;hostage diplomacy&rdquo; by the current Taliban.&nbsp; He added, however, that the sentence is unlikely to alter Taliban policy or governance inside Afghanistan, where he said the group feels largely immune to outside legal pressure and remains resistant to change despite internal and external pressures.

Spokesperson for the United States Department of State Jen Psaki holds a conversation with American journalist David Rohde (right). File photo: (Wikimedia Commons)

Americas

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche says 'those who harm Americans and engage in acts of terrorism will be hunted down and brought to justice, no matter how long it takes.'


Taliban commander sentenced to 42 years for kidnapping US journalist

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump announced Thursday he will sue The New York Times over an unfavorable opinion poll and suggested that what he called &quot;fake&quot; surveys should be criminalized. Trump lashed out after the publication of a New York Times/Siena University poll finding only 40% approval for the 79-year-old Republican, in line with multiple other polls showing declining support a year into his second term. &quot;The Times Siena Poll...will be added to my lawsuit against The Failing New York Times,&quot; Trump said on his Truth Social platform. &quot;They will be held fully responsible for all of their Radical Left lies and wrongdoing!&quot; Expanding on the threat, Trump posted that &quot;Fake and Fraudulent Polling should be, virtually, a criminal offense.&quot; Trump has fired off multiple defamation lawsuits against media companies, including the <a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/trump-says-will-file-lawsuit-against-bbc-by-tuesday" style="color:#0073e6;">BBC</a>, CNN, Wall Street Journal, CBS, and ABC. Some have ended in multi-million-dollar settlements. He first filed a <a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/trump-files-15-billion-defamation-lawsuit-against-nyt" style="color:#0073e6;">$15 billion defamation suit</a> against the Times in September 2025, claiming the leading US newspaper had run false stories to hurt his 2024 presidential campaign and reputation. The complaint was thrown out by a federal judge before being refiled in amended form in October. The Times responded by calling that new lawsuit &quot;an attempt to stifle independent reporting&quot; and &quot;intimidation.&quot; Thursday&#39;s Times/Siena poll was the latest opinion survey finding that Trump&#39;s popularity continues to slide over his handling of the economy and a military-style crackdown on illegal immigration. Times/Siena is considered to be among the most accurate and highest profile of US political surveys. Its latest findings were especially notable for laying out what the Times called the unraveling of Trump&#39;s winning 2024 coalition. Young and non-white voters who turned out for Trump in the election against Democrat Kamala Harris have now left him, the poll found, leaving him with his previous core base of older and white voters.

US president lashes out after publication of New York Times/Siena University poll finding only 40% approval for the 79-year-old Republican; Times responded by calling the new lawsuit "an attempt to stifle independent reporting" and "intimidation."


Trump to sue New York Times over unfavorable opinion poll

WASHINGTON: The Trump administration last week told lawmakers that it would further shrink the broadcasting capacity of Voice of America despite a judge&rsquo;s order to maintain robust news operations at the federally funded news group, which provides independent reporting to countries with limited press freedoms, said a report by The New York Times. Kari Lake, a Trump ally who leads the broadcaster&rsquo;s parent agency, wrote in a Nov. 25 notice to Congress reviewed by The New York Times that the administration intended to close its six overseas news bureaus and four overseas marketing offices, including those in Jakarta, Indonesia; Islamabad, Pakistan; Nairobi, Kenya; and Prague, Czech Republic. The plans are part of the Trump administration&rsquo;s broader, months-long effort to shutter federally funded news groups.&nbsp;President Trump first moved to shut down Voice of America in March and has also targeted other broadcasters, such as Radio Free Asia. Resistance from courts&nbsp;The campaign has met resistance from courts and even from some Republican members of Congress, who believe VOA&rsquo;s reporting &quot;helps counter misinformation and propaganda campaigns from American adversaries like China and Russia,&quot; the NYT report said. The expected closures appear to contradict a federal judge&rsquo;s order from April, which required Trump officials to resume operations at VOA so that it would &ldquo;fulfill its statutory mandate&rdquo; to serve &ldquo;as a consistently reliable and authoritative source of news.&rdquo; But even after the court ruling, Lake moved to lay off more journalists and kept most of VOA&rsquo;s news programming off the air, irking Judge Royce C Lamberth of the US District Court for the District of Columbia, who threatened to hold her in contempt. Lake argued to lawmakers that the demands of covering breaking news could be handled by contractors when needed. &ldquo;None of the closures reduce VOA&rsquo;s ability to provide authoritative, independent journalism,&rdquo; Lake said in a statement. &ldquo;They are strategically chosen redundancies to save over $30 million in taxpayer dollars.&rdquo; Lake added that planned closures &ldquo;are not reductions in service,&rdquo; since Voice of America would &ldquo;remain responsive to geopolitical events and developments across the globe.&rdquo; &lsquo;Another nail in the coffin&rsquo;But Patsy Widakuswara, who led Voice of America&rsquo;s White House coverage until March and has joined other employees in suing the administration, said the planned office closures were &ldquo;another nail in the coffin&rdquo; for the broadcaster, according to the news report. The offices coordinated with local news stations so that Voice of America&rsquo;s content featured in their programming through partnerships, said Kate Neeper, a director of strategy at VOA&rsquo;s parent agency who was put on paid leave and joined the lawsuit.&nbsp; Voice of America reached 360 million people every week in 49 languages until March. Former VOA reporters pointed out that news services often took weeks or even months to start, and said that Voice of America could not cover news with only contractors. Widakuswara said Lake&rsquo;s proposal to use contractors was akin to &ldquo;hiring meteorologists only when it rains.&rdquo; The notice to Congress, addressed to the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said the Trump administration would also shutter many of the long-distance radio stations that Voice of America and other federally funded news groups had used to counter government censorship.&nbsp; The six transmitting stations expected to close by the end of the year are in Germany, Thailand, Botswana, and Djibouti. Ceding ground to Russia, ChinaTrump&rsquo;s efforts to dismantle Voice of America and other federally funded news groups have raised concerns that the United States is ceding ground to Russian and Chinese propaganda networks that have moved aggressively to fill the vacuum, according to the NYT. Before Voice of America pulled back most of its news production, foreign TV news stations that had partnerships with VOA aired its content, including coverage of the White House and Congress. But many of those networks now rely on Chinese and Russian state-sponsored media. The Chinese-language service for Metro TV in Indonesia, for example, now features only content from CGTN, a Chinese state broadcaster, rather than incorporating material from Voice of America, Widakuswara said. &ldquo;Shuttering VOA news bureaus and US transmission stations is a win for Putin, Xi, and dictators around the world,&rdquo; Senator Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, the top Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, said in a statement, referring to President Vladimir V Putin of Russia and Xi Jinping, China&rsquo;s leader. US credibility on the line&nbsp;She added: &ldquo;These closures would severely undermine US credibility abroad, weaken our ability to counter disinformation and silence independent reporting in regions where reliable information is already under threat.&rdquo; The newspaper report said that the two US adversaries each spend billions of dollars a year to disseminate content favorable to their governments, including disinformation, according to a recent State Department assessment. US-funded newsrooms received around $850 million in 2024, including $260 million for Voice of America. Last month, Congress reauthorized a similar level of funding for federally funded news groups through the end of January, The New York Times reported.

Kari Lake, Senior Advisor for US Agency for Global Media, holds up a photo of the Voice of America newsroom as she testifies during a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on the future of the US Agency for Global Media, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D

The push appears to contradict a federal judge’s order from April, which required Trump officials to resume operations at VOA; Trump first moved to shut down VOA in March, and has also targeted Radio Free Asia.

Articles tagged with "The New York Times"

US-Iran talks: How Pakistan's mediation captured global media attention

Taliban commander sentenced to 42 years for kidnapping US journalist

Trump to sue New York Times over unfavorable opinion poll

Trump administration to close Voice of America’s overseas offices: NYT