Category World News

Islamabad, Pakistan – Less than two hours after a suicide blast at the entrance of the district court in Pakistan’s capital Islamabad on Tuesday, Khawaja Asif, the country’s defence minister, called the attack a “wake-up call” and “a war for all of Pakistan”.

“The rulers of Kabul can stop terrorism in Pakistan, but bringing this war all the way to Islamabad is a message from Kabul, to which, praise be to God, Pakistan has the full strength to respond,” he wrote on his X account.

After a week of deadly fighting on their border in October, Pakistan and Afghanistan had signed a ceasefire agreement in Doha, with Asif and his Afghan counterpart Mullah Mohammad Yaqoob inking the pact.

But that was followed by two unsuccessful rounds of talks in Istanbul aimed at cementing the ceasefire and turning it into a longer-term pathway for peace between the neighbours.

Now, even as a Turkish delegation is due to arrive in Pakistan later this week to try to salvage those talks between Islamabad and Kabul, Tuesday’s attack threatens to kill the already fragile prospects of any breakthrough, even though the Taliban have condemned the Islamabad blast.

“I should make this clear about Afghanistan,” Asif said, speaking to a local news channel on Tuesday. “All their wars have been based on insurgency. To counter that, we must rely on conventional war, and Pakistan has a great army.”

Historical ties and recent ruptures

Pakistan long enjoyed close ties with the Afghan Taliban, and many Pakistanis welcomed the group’s return to power in August 2021.

But relations have soured, largely over Islamabad’s accusations that Kabul has provided sanctuary to the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). The Afghan Taliban reject Pakistan’s accusations.

An armed group that emerged in 2007, the TTP has waged a sustained campaign against Pakistan and is often described as the ideological twin of the Afghan Taliban.

Besides the TTP, Pakistan accuses Afghanistan of sheltering the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) and the local ISIL/ISIS affiliate, known as the ISKP – even though the ISKP is a sworn enemy of the Afghan Taliban.

The last two years have seen a sharp rise in violence inside Pakistan. Most attacks have occurred in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces, both of which border Afghanistan.

The assaults have disproportionately targeted law enforcement personnel. More than 2,500 people were killed in armed attacks in Pakistan in 2024, one of the country’s deadliest years in nearly a decade, and 2025 appears on track to exceed that toll.

Aside from the suicide blast in Islamabad, a major operation in Wana, the administrative centre of the tribal district South Waziristan, helped avert a potentially catastrophic attack earlier this week. A two-day military operation rescued more than 500 students, teachers and staff, concluding on Tuesday night.

‘Full-scale war unlikely’

Despite the heightened rhetoric and violence, analysts say the chances of a full-scale conventional war between Pakistan and Afghanistan remain “very slim”.

“Opting for a conventional war against Afghanistan would damage the positive image Pakistan has cultivated over the past few months,” Fahad Nabeel, head of Islamabad-based Geopolitical Insights, told Al Jazeera, referring to Islamabad’s growing friendship with the administration of US President Donald Trump, and Pakistan’s narrative that it is a victim of violence from its neighbours – India and Afghanistan – rather than a trigger-happy initiator of conflicts.

Iftikhar Firdous, a security analyst who also co-founded the Khorasan Diary – a security portal that tracks regional security developments – also agreed.

The arrival of a Turkish delegation, scheduled for later this week, Firdous said, suggests that Afghanistan and Pakistan might be willing to de-escalate.

He pointed to the Taliban’s condemnation of the Islamabad attack as evidence of “their intention that they don’t want this [peace talks] to collapse entirely”.

In a statement on Tuesday evening, Abul Qahar Balkhi, the spokesperson for the Foreign Ministry in Afghanistan, said that Kabul “expresses its deep sorrow and condemnation” regarding the explosion in Islamabad and the attack in Wana.

Remarks reading attacks in Islamabad and Wana pic.twitter.com/OWR5pCrCnk

Delhi blast and regional realignments

But the suicide attack in Islamabad wasn’t the only deadly explosion in South Asia this week. A car blast in New Delhi on Monday killed at least 13 people.

Indian investigators have not publicly blamed any entity or state, and say inquiries are ongoing, but have invoked the country’s “anti-terror” law and made a series of arrests.

This is the second major attack on Indian soil this year, following a deadly incident in Pahalgam, Indian-administered Kashmir, in April that led to a four-day military standoff with Pakistan.

The Pahalgam assault, which left more than two dozen civilians dead, was blamed by Indian authorities on an allegedly Pakistan-backed group.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has since warned that any further attacks on Indian soil would be treated as attacks by Pakistan.

While Pakistan’s relationship with Afghanistan has deteriorated this year, India, which historically treated the Taliban as a Pakistani proxy and avoided formal contact, has strengthened diplomatic and strategic ties with Kabul, particularly in 2025.

Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi made his maiden visit to New Delhi in October, which coincided with an outbreak of cross-border fighting between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has accused India of supporting armed groups targeting Pakistan and sheltering them in Afghanistan.

After the Islamabad court blast on Tuesday, Sharif blamed India for both the Islamabad and Wana incidents without presenting evidence.

“Both attacks are the worst examples of Indian state terrorism in the region. It is time for the world to condemn such nefarious conspiracies of India,” he said.

India “unequivocally” rejected the allegations, calling them “baseless and unfounded” and accusing Pakistan’s leadership of delirium.

Is a wider war looming?

Firdous, who divides his time between Islamabad and Peshawar, said Pakistan has consistently framed the TTP and other groups as proxies influenced by India seeking to destabilise its western neighbour.

“I would not say that Pakistan blamed India directly as such, but they just reiterated its narrative. They have been trying to tell the world that it is Pakistan, not India, which is the victim of terrorism, and that the Afghan Taliban are now becoming Indian proxies,” he said.

With tensions simmering in both Islamabad and Kabul and aggressive rhetoric being deployed by senior officials, the question persists: Is an all-out war looming?

Firdous does not believe a conventional war is imminent, but warns of a realignment in which Afghanistan, once again, becomes “central to global power games”.

Diplomacy still has a role, Firdous stressed, saying that mediators such as Turkiye and Qatar are urging restraint.

Nabeel said that periodic aerial strikes inside Afghanistan remain a plausible military option for Islamabad.

The prospects of Lionel Messi’s return to Barcelona as a player are “unrealistic”, says the Spanish club’s president Joan Laporta.

Laporta’s comments, on Wednesday, came three days after the Argentinian, one of Barcelona’s all-time football greats, returned to the Catalan club on an unannounced visit and expressed his desire to “return one day”.

The 38-year-old made a surprise appearance at Barca’s Camp Nou stadium on Sunday night and said he hoped “one day I can return, and not just to say goodbye as a player, as I never got to do”.

Eight-time Ballon d’Or winner Messi, Barca’s record goal scorer (672 goals) and appearance maker (778 caps), left for Paris Saint-Germain in 2021 after spending 21 years of his illustrious career with Barcelona.

Having won 10 La Liga titles, four Champions League crowns and three Club World Cups with Barca, Messi now plays for Inter Miami.

His shock exit came due to Barcelona’s precarious financial position, which meant the team could not afford to keep him.

Messi shed tears at his final press conference at the club he joined at 13 years of age and where he began his professional career.

“Out of the utmost respect for Messi, the professionals at the club, Barca, and the Barca club members, I believe that now, for me to make speculation that is unrealistic, nor do I think is fair, well, I believe that is not appropriate,” Laporta told Catalunya Radio.

The club president, who was in charge at the time of Messi’s departure, said he did not regret what happened because “Barca is above everything”.

Barca reopened the Camp Nou on Friday, 895 days after its closure, unveiling a revamped stadium by staging an open training session attended by 21,795 fans.

“Last night, I returned to a place that I miss with all my heart. A place where I was immensely happy, where you made me feel a thousand times like the happiest person in the world,” Messi wrote on Instagram on Monday, going on to express a hope that “one day I can return”.

Messi extended his contract with Inter Miami in October, and has previously said that the Major League Soccer club in the United States would likely be his last.

“You’re always welcome at your home, Leo,” Barca posted on X.

You’re always welcome at your home, Leo. 💙❤️ pic.twitter.com/LUgD5D6Wdb

Laporta confirmed he would love to hold a match in homage to Messi’s career at the rebuilt Camp Nou, once it is fully open.

“Things didn’t end the way we would have liked … if, in some way, this tribute can make up for what wasn’t done, I think it would be a good thing,” explained Laporta.

“It would be right that he has the best tribute [match] in the world, and it would be wonderful to have it here, in front of 105,000 fans,” he continued.

The club president said Inter Miami forward Messi’s surprise visit to the stadium on Sunday was a “spontaneous” display of his love for the club.

The fight over the budget has now moved to the US House of Representatives, a day after the Senate cleared a stopgap funding measure to end the longest government shutdown in the country’s history, as House Democratic leaders are encouraging members to vote against the bill.

The Republican-led measure was passed in the Senate on Tuesday with the support of eight senators from the Democratic caucus who broke ranks with the party. The stopgap package, which will keep the government running until January 30, did not include funding for healthcare subsidies – which is at the heart of the political impasse that has gripped the US since October 1.

Top Democrats, including Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, are seeking an amendment to the bill to extend healthcare subsidies under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which benefits some 24 million Americans.

“We’re not going to support a partisan Republican spending bill that continues to gut the healthcare of the American people,” Jeffries said in a news release issued by his team on Tuesday evening.

If the Republican-controlled House passes the bill on Wednesday, it will go to President Donald Trump to be signed into law.

So what are the Democrats proposing, and will the House pass the bill ending 42 days of shutdown?

What are Democrats demanding?

Jeffries and other Democratic lawmakers unveiled a proposed amendment to the bill that would call for a three-year extension of subsidies to the ACA, which is due to expire at the end of the year, to make health insurance coverage more affordable.

“We’re going to continue the fight to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits. And if it doesn’t happen this week, next week, this month, next month, then it’s the fault of Donald Trump, House and Senate Republicans who continue to make life more expensive for the American people,” Jeffries said on Tuesday night.

The ACA was first launched in 2010, informally known as ObamaCare, under then-President Barack Obama. While the act affected all aspects of the healthcare system, the main change was the introduction of a regulated health insurance marketplace for those who are uninsured to access health insurance.

In 2021, then-President Joe Biden expanded the tax credits under the American Rescue Plan Act, an economic stimulus package, which made healthcare coverage more affordable for families and those with higher incomes in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2022, the tax credits were extended under the Inflation Reduction Act under the Biden administration. It is those subsidies that will expire at the end of the year unless the Republicans agree to the Democrats’ demands.

However, on Wednesday morning, the Republican-majority House Rules Committee voted to reject an amendment to the bill that would later be voted on to extend enhanced healthcare subsidies for three years.

And Trump has shown no signs of giving concessions on the issue. Last week, he proposed to send ACA subsidies directly into people’s bank accounts.

“I am recommending to Senate Republicans that the Hundreds of Billions of Dollars currently being sent to money sucking Insurance Companies in order to save the bad Healthcare provided by ObamaCare, BE SENT DIRECTLY TO THE PEOPLE SO THAT THEY CAN PURCHASE THEIR OWN, MUCH BETTER, HEALTHCARE, and have money left over,” he posted on his Truth Social platform.

In July, Trump and Congress cut Medicaid funding by $930bn over the next decade as part of his “Big Beautiful Bill”. Medicaid is the biggest government-run health programme and provides care to low-income people.

How might the collapse of the subsidy impact individuals?

According to the healthcare research nonprofit, KFF, if ACA subsidies are not extended, people who are enrolled in the subsidised programme are estimated to pay “more than double”.

Annual premium payments for ACA enrollees would rise from $888 in 2025 to $1,904 in 2026.

Christine Meehan, a 51-year-old hair stylist from Pennsylvania who depends on the marketplace health insurance, told The Associated Press that her $160 monthly plan will increase by about $100 next year.

How has the fallout of the Senate vote played out?

Eight senators, seven Democrats, one independent, defected to vote for the funding bill, which does not include healthcare subsidies. Republicans say the issue will be decided in another vote in December.

The passage of the bill required Democratic support, as Republicans were seven short of the 60 votes required for the legislation to pass. Democratic Senators Dick Durbin, John Fetterman, Catherine Cortez Masto, Maggie Hassan, Tim Kaine, Jackie Rosen, and Jeanne Shaheen voted along with independent Senator Angus King of Maine.

Now, the progressive wing of the Democratic Party is calling for the Senate Democratic leader, Chuck Schumer, to step aside after blaming him for allowing the Democrats to cross-vote.

“He’s the leader of the Senate. This deal would never have happened if he had not blessed it. Don’t take my word for it. Take the word of other senators who are saying that they kept Senator Schumer in the loop the whole time,” Democratic Representative Ro Khanna told CBS News.

“Schumer is no longer effective and should be replaced,” Khanna wrote on X on Monday, joining several Democratic leaders from the progressive and left wing of the party.

Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren said on Tuesday that “The American people asked us over and over to fight for healthcare and to lower our costs overall”.

“Obviously, that broke apart at the end. Our job is to deliver for the American people. We need to do that more effectively,” Warren added, declining to say whether she had confidence in Schumer.

So far, a handful of senators have called on Schumer to resign for allowing the bill to pass on his watch.

What was agreed in the funding deal?

In the compromise legislation passed on Tuesday, it was agreed that all federal workers, who had been working unpaid, would be paid during the shutdown. According to the Bipartisan Policy Centre, a US nonprofit, at least 670,000 federal employees have been furloughed, while about 730,000 are working without pay.

Funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Programme (SNAP), which provides food aid for about 42 million Americans, will be extended until next September, according to the bill.

For air controllers, who are classified as essential workers and did not receive their pay, facing staffing issues that led to 10 percent of flights being cancelled, Transport Secretary Sean Duffy said workers will receive 70 percent of their back pay within 24 to 48 hours.

The remaining 30 percent will arrive about a week later, he added on Tuesday.

What happens next?

With the Republicans holding a slight majority in the House of Representatives, the bill is likely to pass during Wednesday’s vote, which will take place as early as 4pm in Washington, DC (21:00 GMT).

In the 435-member House, Republicans control 219 seats and Democrats, 214. To pass a bill, a simple majority is needed, which in this case would be 218 votes.

Democrats are expected to vote against the bill nonetheless.

Before the vote, Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson called on Democrats to “think carefully”.

“My urgent plea of all my colleagues in the House – that means every Democrat in the House – is to think carefully, pray and finally do the right thing,” Johnson told reporters.

But Democrat House Minority Whip Katherine Clark recommended that her colleagues vote ‘no’ to the bill, according to The Hill, a news outlet.

“This does not have to happen to the American people. This is a choice,” Clark told the Rules Committee.

“Democrats have been presenting off-ramps all year. We’ve been giving you a chance to reverse course day after day,” Clarke added.

Israeli forces on Wednesday demolished more Palestinian homes and livestock shelters in the occupied West Bank’s Masafer Yatta, the collection of communities featured in the Oscar-winning “No Other Land.” Residents could do nothing but look on as armed military and police stood guard.