Afghanistan welcomes upgraded diplomatic ties with Pakistan
KABUL: Afghanistan has welcomed the decision to upgrade diplomatic relations with Pakistan, where the Taliban government's foreign minister is due to travel in the coming days, his office said on Saturday.
The move signals easing tensions between the neighbouring countries, as relations between the Taliban authorities and Pakistan — already rocky — have cooled in recent months, fuelled by security concerns and a campaign by Islamabad to expel tens of thousands of Afghans.
Pakistan's top diplomat on Friday said the charge d'affaires stationed in Kabul would be elevated to the rank of ambassador, with Kabul later announcing its representative in Islamabad would also be upgraded.
'This elevation in diplomatic representation between Afghanistan & Pakistan paves the way for enhanced bilateral cooperation in multiple domains,' the Aghan foreign ministry said on X.
Kabul's Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi is due to visit Pakistan 'in the coming days', ministry spokesman Zia Ahmad Takal told AFP.
Muttaqi met with Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar in May in Beijing as part of a trilateral meeting with their Chinese counterpart Wang Yi. Wang afterwards announced Kabul and Islamabad's intention to exchange ambassadors and expressed Beijing's willingness 'to continue to assist with improving Afghanistan-Pakistan ties'.
Dar hailed the 'positive trajectory' of Pakistan-Afghanistan relations on Friday, saying the upgrading of their representatives would 'promote further exchanges between two fraternal countries'. Only a handful of countries — including China — have agreed to host Taliban government ambassadors since their return to power in 2021, with no country yet formally recognising the administration.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Business Recorder
2 hours ago
- Business Recorder
Hey chatbot, is this true? AI ‘factchecks' Pakistan-India war information
WASHINGTON: As misinformation exploded during India's four-day conflict with Pakistan, social media users turned to an AI chatbot for verification – only to encounter more falsehoods, underscoring its unreliability as a fact-checking tool. With tech platforms reducing human fact-checkers, users are increasingly relying on AI-powered chatbots – including xAI's Grok, OpenAI's ChatGPT, and Google's Gemini – in search of reliable information. 'Hey @Grok, is this true?' has become a common query on Elon Musk's platform X, where the AI assistant is built in, reflecting the growing trend of seeking instant debunks on social media. Memes continue: Pakistanis celebrate air dominance over India on social media But the responses are often themselves riddled with misinformation. Grok – now under renewed scrutiny for inserting 'white genocide,' a far-right conspiracy theory, into unrelated queries – wrongly identified old video footage from Sudan's Khartoum airport as a missile strike on Pakistan's Nur Khan airbase during the country's recent conflict with India. Unrelated footage of a building on fire in Nepal was misidentified as 'likely' showing Pakistan's military response to Indian strikes. 'The growing reliance on Grok as a fact-checker comes as X and other major tech companies have scaled back investments in human fact-checkers,' McKenzie Sadeghi, a researcher with the disinformation watchdog NewsGuard, told AFP. 'Our research has repeatedly found that AI chatbots are not reliable sources for news and information, particularly when it comes to breaking news,' she warned. 'Fabricated' NewsGuard's research found that 10 leading chatbots were prone to repeating falsehoods, including Russian disinformation narratives and false or misleading claims related to the recent Australian election. In a recent study of eight AI search tools, the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia University found that chatbots were 'generally bad at declining to answer questions they couldn't answer accurately, offering incorrect or speculative answers instead.' When AFP fact-checkers in Uruguay asked Gemini about an AI-generated image of a woman, it not only confirmed its authenticity but fabricated details about her identity and where the image was likely taken. Grok recently labeled a purported video of a giant anaconda swimming in the Amazon River as 'genuine,' even citing credible-sounding scientific expeditions to support its false claim. In reality, the video was AI-generated, AFP fact-checkers in Latin America reported, noting that many users cited Grok's assessment as evidence the clip was real. Such findings have raised concerns as surveys show that online users are increasingly shifting from traditional search engines to AI chatbots for information gathering and verification. The shift also comes as Meta announced earlier this year it was ending its third-party fact-checking program in the United States, turning over the task of debunking falsehoods to ordinary users under a model known as 'Community Notes,' popularized by X. Researchers have repeatedly questioned the effectiveness of 'Community Notes' in combating falsehoods. 'Biased answers' Human fact-checking has long been a flashpoint in a hyperpolarized political climate, particularly in the United States, where conservative advocates maintain it suppresses free speech and censors right-wing content – something professional fact-checkers vehemently reject. AFP currently works in 26 languages with Facebook's fact-checking program, including in Asia, Latin America, and the European Union. The quality and accuracy of AI chatbots can vary, depending on how they are trained and programmed, prompting concerns that their output may be subject to political influence or control. Musk's xAI recently blamed an 'unauthorized modification' for causing Grok to generate unsolicited posts referencing 'white genocide' in South Africa. When AI expert David Caswell asked Grok who might have modified its system prompt, the chatbot named Musk as the 'most likely' culprit. Musk, the South African-born billionaire backer of President Donald Trump, has previously peddled the unfounded claim that South Africa's leaders were 'openly pushing for genocide' of white people. 'We have seen the way AI assistants can either fabricate results or give biased answers after human coders specifically change their instructions,' Angie Holan, director of the International Fact-Checking Network, told AFP. 'I am especially concerned about the way Grok has mishandled requests concerning very sensitive matters after receiving instructions to provide pre-authorized answers.'
Business Recorder
2 hours ago
- Business Recorder
US dollar declines as steel tariffs, China tensions hurt sentiment
The U.S. dollar fell against other major currencies on Monday, giving up some of the previous week's gains, as markets weighed the outlook for President Donald Trump's tariff policy and its potential to constrict growth and unleash inflation. The greenback starts the week on the back foot after Trump said on Friday that he planned to double duties on imported steel and aluminum to 50% from Wednesday, and as Beijing hit back against accusations it violated an agreement on critical minerals shipments. China's Commerce Ministry said on Monday the charges were 'groundless,' and promised to take unspecified forceful measures to safeguard its interests. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Sunday Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping will likely have a call soon, and 'this will be ironed out.' The dollar dropped 0.8% to 142.85 yen as of 0821 GMT, giving back some of its more than 1% rally from last week. The euro gained 0.66% to $1.1422 to its highest since late April, while sterling advanced 0.67% to $1.3549. Trump's latest tariff announcement did little damage to top steel exporter Canada's dollar, which instead hit its highest in nearly eight months versus the dollar. It was last up 0.5% at 1.3675. A broader index, which measures the greenback against six major peers eased 0.6% and at 98.751 and was just shy of its April 22 low. Weak dollar reprises its role as 'carry' trade funder 'U.S. protectionist trade policies have raised the risk the U.S. economy enters a period of stagflation which can further undermine the dollar,' said Elias Haddad, senior markets strategist at Brown Brothers Harriman. Recession worries The U.S. dollar has been whipsawed for weeks by Trump's on-again-off-again trade war, and investors have been questioning the currency's safe-haven status as a flare-up in tensions stokes worries of a potential U.S. recession. The dollar has fallen about 5% against major peers since the April 2 'Liberation Day' tariffs and about 2% in the last two weeks, when Trump threatened 50% levies on Europe and then postponed them. Last week, the greenback got a bit of respite, rising 0.3% after talks with the European Union got back on track and a U.S. trade court blocked the bulk of Trump's tariffs on the grounds that he overstepped his authority. An appeals court reinstated the duties a day later, and Trump's administration said it had other avenues to implement the levies if it loses in court, but many analysts said it showed there were still checks in place on the president's power. Goldman Sachs said it expected the 10% tariff floor for major trading partners to remain, in addition to sectoral tariffs. 'The risk remains that if tariffs are impeded, attention may shift to other ways of raising revenues which may be even more negative for the dollar,' Goldman analysts said in a note. Fiscal worries have also given rise to a broad 'Sell America' theme that has seen dollar assets from stocks to Treasury bonds dropping in recent months. Those concerns come into particular focus this week as the Senate starts considering Trump's sweeping tax cut and spendingbill, which will add an estimated $3.8 trillion to the federal government's $36.2 trillion in debt over the next decade. Many senators have already said the bill will need major revisions, and Trump said he welcomed changes. The fate of section 899 of the bill could be crucial, according to Barclays analysts. 'S899 would give the U.S. free rein to tax companies and investors from countries deemed to have 'unfair foreign taxes' (and) could be seen as a tax on the U.S. capital account at a time when investor nervousness towards U.S. assets has grown,' they said in a research report. 'Actively reducing foreigners' total return on their U.S. investments would dent inflows and weigh on the dollar, all else equal,' Barclays analysts said. 'While dollar sentiment/positioning remains close to extreme negativity, the path ahead is by no means clear cut.' Elsewhere, the Australian dollar added 0.70% to $0.64 and the New Zealand dollar rose 0.85% to $0.60.
Business Recorder
2 hours ago
- Business Recorder
Safe-haven rush lifts gold to one-week peak as trade, geopolitical risks intensify
Gold prices rose nearly 2% to a one-week high on Monday, driven by safe-haven demand as renewed U.S. tariff threats from President Donald Trump and escalating tensions between Russia and Ukraine heightened global trade and geopolitical fears. Spot gold was up 1.9% at $3,352.69 an ounce, as of 0824 GMT, after hitting its highest level since May 23, earlier in the session. U.S. gold futures rose 1.9% to $3,377.50. The dollar was down 0.5% against its rivals, after Trump said late on Friday that he plans to double duties on imported steel and aluminium to 50%, and as Beijing hit back against accusations it violated an agreement on critical minerals shipments. A weaker dollar makes bullion more appealing for other currency holders. On Sunday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Trump would soon speak with Chinese President Xi Jinping to iron out a dispute over critical minerals. 'I guess risk-off (sentiment) with Asian equities lower is one factor, the other is rising geopolitical tensions - including the escalation in tensions between Ukraine and Russia - (is) lifting demand for safe haven assets such as gold,' said Giovanni Staunovo, UBS analyst. Gold falls as dollar strengthens ahead of key US inflation data 'Ongoing trade tensions between China and the US are an additional supportive factor for gold.' On the geopolitical front, Ukraine and Russia ramped up attacks ahead of their second peace talks in Istanbul, including a major Ukrainian strike and a Russian overnight drone assault. In the U.S., Fed Chair Jerome Powell is set to speak later today, while markets also look forward to speeches from several U.S. Federal Reserve officials this week for signals on the monetary policy outlook. Gold, widely regarded as a safe-haven asset during periods of geopolitical and economic uncertainty, typically performs well in a low-interest-rate environment. Spot silver rose 1.3% to $33.42 an ounce, platinum was down 0.4% at $1,051.95 and palladium rose 0.1% to $972.25.
