Current News Articles | Afghanistan peace campaign

UN Official Says Afghans Flee War in Iran Only to Face Another Crisis in Afghanistan

March 10, 2026 Current News Articles

Khaama Press

March 10, 2026

A United Nations official says thousands of Afghan migrants living in Iran are crossing the border back into Afghanistan every day due to ongoing attacks by the United States and Israel. The UN refugee agency warns that many Afghans are leaving Iran amid growing insecurity and fear caused by the escalating conflict.

Arafat Jamal, the UN refugee agency’s representative in Afghanistan, told Al Jazeera that returning Afghans are effectively “fleeing one war only to arrive in another.” He said many of the returnees are heading back to a country already facing tensions and instability.

According to Jamal, Afghanistan is currently experiencing heightened tensions along its border with Pakistan, making the situation even more difficult for returning migrants. “For these people, there are no good choices,” he said, describing the harsh realities facing displaced Afghan families.

The UN official said many Afghans are escaping the wartime conditions that people inside Iran are currently experiencing. Fear of airstrikes and the deteriorating security situation have pushed many migrants to leave the country.

Jamal said that since the beginning of this year alone, around 110,000 Afghan migrants have left Iran. He added that the departures appear to be largely preventive, as families attempt to avoid the worst consequences of the conflict.

Afghanistan has long hosted large numbers of returnees from neighboring countries, particularly Iran and Pakistan, where millions of Afghans have lived as refugees or migrant workers for decades.

Humanitarian organizations warn that Afghanistan’s fragile economy and limited aid funding make it difficult to absorb large numbers of returning migrants, many of whom arrive with few resources or support networks.

The UN refugee agency says urgent humanitarian assistance will be needed to support the growing number of returnees, as continued regional tensions risk worsening displacement across the region.

Taliban Official Threatens To Kill Americans With US-Supplied Weapons

March 10, 2026 Current News Articles

ATaliban official in northern Afghanistan has threatened to kill Americans using weapons seized from US forces, as tensions between Washington and the Taliban escalated following America’s designation of Afghanistan as a state sponsor of wrongful detention.

Ataullah Zaid, spokesman for the Taliban governor of Balkh province, issued the threat on Tuesday after resharing a post by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on X. Writing directly to Rubio, Zaid said: “You once brought us to our knees here. If you wish to do so again, we are ready, and we will give you a devastating response.”

He added: “Do not forget that we will kill you with your own weapons, the very weapons we have acquired.”

The remarks came a day after the State Department placed Taliban-controlled Afghanistan on its list of governments that wrongfully detain American citizens, only the second entity to receive the designation, after the Islamic Republic of Iran.

At least three US nationals are currently believed to be held in Taliban custody. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who announced the designation on Monday, accused the Taliban of using hostage-taking as a tool of political leverage and said the tactic would not yield results against the current administration.

The fate of the detained Americans has been a central issue in Washington’s dealings with the Taliban in recent months. US special envoy for hostage affairs Adam Boehler travelled to Kabul in late 2025 alongside former US Special Representative for Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad for talks with Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi on securing their release.

Rubio designates Afghanistan as ‘state sponsor of wrongful detention’

March 10, 2026 Current News Articles

By Max Rego

The Hill

03/09/26 8:27 PM ET

Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Monday designated Afghanistan as a “state sponsor of wrongful detention” and urged the ruling Taliban to release two U.S. citizens he said are “unjustly detained.”

“Today, I am designating Afghanistan as a State Sponsor of Wrongful Detention. The Taliban continues to use terrorist tactics, kidnapping individuals for ransom or to seek policy concessions. These despicable tactics need to end,” Rubio said in a release.

“It is not safe for Americans to travel to Afghanistan because the Taliban continues to unjustly detain our fellow Americans and other foreign nationals,” he added.

Rubio also called on the Taliban to release Dennis Coyle, Mahmood Habibi and “all Americans unjustly detained in Afghanistan now and commit to cease the practice of hostage diplomacy forever.”

Coyle, 64, was detained in January of last year without charges by the Taliban General Directorate of Intelligence, according to a website run by his family. At the time, Coyle was “legally working to support Afghan language communities as an academic researcher” and has still not been charged with a crime, his family said.

The State Department declared last June that Coyle was wrongfully detained.

“Dennis has been held in near-solitary conditions, requiring permission even to use the bathroom, and without access to adequate medical care,” Coyle’s family said. “His family is deeply concerned for his health and well-being. … Dennis’s elderly mother, Donna, and his three sisters—Amy, Patti, and Molly—miss him profoundly. This past year has been marked by absence and grief.”

In August of 2022, the Taliban’s General Directorate of Intelligence abducted Habibi, an American citizen who was born in Afghanistan, and his driver from their vehicle in the capital of Kabul, according to the State Department.

Habibi, 38, was previously Afghanistan’s director of civil aviation and worked for the Kabul-based telecommunications company Asia Consultancy Group, according to the FBI. The bureau, which is seeking information regarding Habibi’s disappearance, notes that the Taliban detained 29 other employees of the company and has released all but Habibi and one other.

Habibi has not been heard from since his arrest, while the Taliban has not provided information on his whereabouts or condition, according to the State Department and FBI.

The Taliban retook power in Afghanistan in 2021, upon the U.S. military’s chaotic withdrawal from the country after two decades of war under Trump and former presidents Bush, Obama and Biden.

The conflict, the longest in American history, cost $2.3 trillion, according to the Costs of War Project at Brown University. That initiative also determined 2,324 U.S. service members, 3,917 U.S. contractors, 1,144 allied troops and 46,319 civilians died in the war.

The cost of caring for veterans of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq will reach between $2.2 trillion and $2.5 trillion by 2050, according to the project.

Meanwhile, the Taliban has no “political or armed opposition that represent a serious threat to the group or its authoritarian rule” and places “severe restrictions” on Afghan women and girls, according to a March 2025 report from the Congressional Research Service.

UN Women says 90% of female-headed households in Afghanistan lack sufficient food

March 9, 2026 Current News Articles

By Fidel Rahmati

KKhaama Press

March 9, 2026

UN Women says 90% of households headed by women in Afghanistan do not have adequate access to food, highlighting severe levels of food insecurity among vulnerable families.

The UN agency said Sunday, marking International Women’s Day, that women who lead households face some of the largest barriers in meeting their families’ basic needs.

It added that many of these women struggle to secure food and essential resources as they cope with economic hardship and limited livelihood opportunities.

UN Women stressed that expanding humanitarian assistance and improving women’s access to food support could significantly help female-headed households and reduce immediate hardship.

Afghanistan has been facing a deep humanitarian and economic crisis since the Taliban returned to power in 2021, leaving millions of people dependent on aid.

Restrictions on women’s employment and participation in public life have further reduced income opportunities for many families, particularly those led by women.

Humanitarian organizations warn that without sustained assistance and improved access to livelihoods, food insecurity among female-headed households in Afghanistan could worsen further.

Afghanistan risks famine if pressure on traders continues, chamber of commerce says

March 9, 2026 Current News Articles

By Fidel Rahmati

Khaama Press

March 9, 2026

Afghan traders have warned that rising regional tensions and trade disruptions could push the country toward a serious food shortage if the situation continues.

Khan Jan Alokozay, a board member of the Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce and Investment, said Taliban authorities are pressuring traders to sell essential food items at lower prices despite increasing import costs.

He stated in an interview with Amu TV that the prices of several basic commodities have risen after key trade routes with Pakistan were closed and regional instability disrupted supply chains. Traders fear continued pressure could discourage imports and reduce food availability.

The warning comes as tensions between the Taliban administration and Pakistan have escalated into border clashes in recent weeks, further affecting the movement of goods between the two neighbors.

Both sides have traded accusations over the conflict. Pakistani officials say militants operating from Afghanistan territory have launched attacks inside Pakistan, while Taliban authorities deny the claims and accuse Pakistan of violating Afghanistan territory through cross-border strikes.

Alokozay said Afghanistan currently has enough food supplies in markets for about one to one and a half months, but warned that without alternative trade arrangements shortages could emerge.

He noted that rice imports are particularly vulnerable because Afghanistan largely relies on South Asian suppliers rather than Central Asian markets for the commodity.

Imports from countries such as Bangladesh typically arrive through Iran’s Bandar Abbas and Chabahar ports, but recent regional conflict and instability have disrupted these routes and slowed deliveries.

Alokozay urged stronger coordination between trade associations, chambers of commerce and the Taliban’s commerce ministry to address the crisis, warning that continued regional war could significantly worsen Afghanistan’s food supply situation.

UN Expert Warns Women’s Rights Restrictions Could Trigger Health Crisis in Afghanistan

March 9, 2026 Current News Articles

By Fidel Rahmati

Khaama Press

March 9, 2026

A UN human rights expert warns restrictions on women and girls in Afghanistan risk worsening the health crisis and causing preventable deaths.

Richard Bennett, the UN Human Rights Council’s Special Rapporteur for Afghanistan, says policies restricting women are creating a serious health crisis in the country.

Bennett said on Monday that women and girls have increasingly been deprived of access to healthcare services and education. He warned that these policies could lead to suffering, illness, and unnecessary deaths, and may even amount to femicide if restrictions continue.

Bennett also called for the removal of limitations on women and urged authorities to allow girls to resume education, particularly in medical fields.

Since 2021, sweeping restrictions have been imposed on women and girls in Afghanistan, including bans on secondary and university education in many areas.

Human rights organizations say the decline in female health workers has limited women’s access to medical care in a country already facing a fragile health system.

Bennett stressed that denying women their rights not only threatens their lives but also risks undermining Afghanistan’s already strained healthcare system.

Afghanistan and Pakistan Military Clashes: UN Calls for Dialogue

March 9, 2026 Current News Articles

Kanako Mita, Sawako Utsumi, and Lee Jay Walker

Modern Tokyo Times

March 9, 2026

Pakistan launched air strikes deep inside Afghanistan in late February, marking a serious escalation in already fragile bilateral relations. The operation appears to be a calculated military move by Islamabad, reflecting mounting security concerns along one of the most volatile frontiers in the region. Pakistani officials stated that the strikes targeted entrenched Islamist militant positions accused of using Afghan territory as a launchpad for deadly attacks inside Pakistan. According to Islamabad, the objective was to dismantle extremist camps operating along the porous frontier that has long served as a corridor for insurgent networks.

The United Nations has voiced alarm over the crisis, especially at a time when other conflicts — from Myanmar to Sudan— are already straining global humanitarian resources. Volker Türk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, urged both sides to step back from military escalation and instead pursue dialogue.

According to UN reporting, the humanitarian consequences are already severe. UN News stated that since the recent intensification of hostilities, 56 Afghan civilians — including 24 children and six women — have been killed, while 129 people have been injured. Up to 66,000 people have also been displaced by the fighting.

Some observers believe the true toll may be higher, given the limited information released by both sides. Military casualties also remain unclear.

Türk warned that civilians are paying the highest price for the conflict, stating that people on both sides of the border are fleeing airstrikes, artillery fire, mortar shelling, and gunfire. He urged all parties to end the violence and prioritise humanitarian assistance for those facing extreme hardship.

Initial Pakistani strikes reportedly targeted Afghan military installations in Kabul and Kandahar, along with other locations across the country. The scale of the operation highlights the seriousness with which Pakistan views the militant threat emanating from across the border.

At the heart of the dispute is Pakistan’s assertion that the Afghan Taliban authorities have taken insufficient action against militants linked to Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). Kabul strongly rejects this accusation, maintaining that Afghan territory should not be blamed for Pakistan’s internal security challenges.

Regional actors, including the Russian Federation and Saudi Arabia, have called for restraint and urged both sides to de-escalate before tensions spiral further. In this context, the diplomatic role of the United Nations and other neutral actors may prove critical in facilitating dialogue.

Taliban authorities in Kabul condemned the Pakistani operation as a violation of Afghan sovereignty and territorial integrity. From their perspective, the strikes represent not only counterterrorism actions but also an infringement on Afghan state authority — further deepening mistrust between the two neighbours.

As Modern Tokyo Times recently noted, “Pakistan remains under sustained pressure from Islamist militancy, particularly from groups such as Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan and the Hafiz Gul Bahadur Group. Islamabad argues that these Sunni extremist factions exploit safe havens inside Afghanistan to carry out attacks against Pakistani civilians, security personnel, and religious minorities. From Pakistan’s perspective, the strikes were framed as a matter of national security rather than regional provocation — a stance strongly disputed by the Taliban authorities.”

Türk emphasised the broader humanitarian stakes, warning that “the cycle of retaliation and violence only deepens the suffering of the wider population.” He urged Afghanistan and Pakistan to address their security concerns through dialogue, negotiation, and cooperation.

Millions of Afghans already rely on humanitarian assistance, meaning any prolonged escalation will only deepen the misery faced by an already vulnerable population.

At the same time, Pakistan can ill afford a prolonged military campaign given its economic challenges and internal pressures. For this reason, it is hoped that the United Nations and responsible regional actors can act as honest brokers, encouraging both sides to pursue a diplomatic path that addresses security concerns while preventing further human suffering.

March 9, 2026 Current News Articles

Ruchi Kumar

National Public Radio

March 9, 2026

Illustration for a story on girls who disguise themselves as boys in Afghanistan

Hokyoung Kim for NPR

In this four-minute clip, a disembodied voice asks a child in a dimly lit room: “Are you a man or a woman now?” The child looks terrified – and like she’s trying to be brave. She says she’s 13 years old. But she’s dressed like an Afghan boy: loose pants, a long shirt and a beaded cap.

The undated video was released to social media by Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers in early February. It’s one of many videos of interrogations they’ve circulated. The clips emphasize the group’s power: A Taliban agent is the voice behind the camera, demanding that their subject answer questions. But this video stood out: The agent was interrogating a girl, dressed as a boy.

The Taliban say that this video was shot four years ago — likely not long after they swept to power in August 2021. They did not respond to questions about why they chose to release the video this year. It is not clear what has happened to the young teenager since the video was released.

An ancient practice with new relevance

Girls dressed as boys has been documented for centuries in the patriarchal society of Afghanistan. It even has a term: a girl who disguises her gender is called a bacha posh — literally “dressing like a boy.”

Bacha posh girls have long captured the imaginations of Westerners in Afghanistan. It was addressed in the movie Osama in 2003 and the 2018 Oscar-nominated animation film The Breadwinner, produced by Angelina Jolie. It was the subject of a deep-dive book published in 2014, The Underground Girls of Kabul.

The reason for girls to dress as boys in times long ago may have included a desire to go soldiering. But the practice has had a different relevance in modern-day Afghanistan, through the first period of Taliban rule in the mid-90s, and now — with the group’s restrictions on the freedom of women. Dressing as a boy offers a girl a chance to provide for her family, which may not have any men or boys, or at least, none available for work. Even those who do have men are struggling: the United Nations estimates that nearly 85% per cent of all Afghans are struggling to survive.

“Under the Taliban’s vision of a society built on total female subordination, women are banned from most forms of employment and confined to homes and excluded from public life,” says Sahar Fetrat, researcher with the Women’s Rights Division at Human Rights Watch.

In that context, she says, “It is not hard to estimate that the practice of bacha poshi persists and rises,” Fetrat says, using the term that refers to the practice itself.

It’s impossible to know how many girls might be disguised as boys at any given time in Afghanistan, but one mental health worker from western Afghanistan tells NPR that it happens often enough. “I have come across such cases frequently in the last few years — my clients are dressing up their daughters as boys so they can work and support their families,” says the woman, who requested only her initials be used to identify her — NT — because she feared backlash from Taliban officials for discussing the topic.

She tells NPR that typically, it was mothers with “lots of daughters and no sons” who “turn one of their daughters into a son.”

There’s another benefit to having a girl-dressed-as-a-boy in this Taliban era: Authorities of the Taliban’s ministry for the prevention of vice and promotion of virtue have, at random times through Afghanistan, imposed one of their rules, which prohibit women and girls from being in public without a male guardian — which can even be a boy. Enter the bacha posh.

“In some cases,” the mental health counselor says, it’s because a bacha posh “can move around more freely and run errands,” she says, “without coming under the Taliban scrutiny.”

The mental health counselor said one of her clients, a 16-year-old girl, who goes by the boy’s name Omid, often acts as a mahram, or male guardian, for her sisters and mother.

Omid has been dressing in boys’ clothes since she was 3. She is one of 7 sisters, and has one brother. When Omid’s father died, her mother forced her to wear boy’s clothes. “She felt they needed another male in the family.”

The mother turned her daughter into a publicly-presenting boy to help them earn money, to accompany them on errands as a mahram, but it was also for social status. “In Afghan culture,” the mental health counselor says, “sons are seen as valuable. So sometimes, families who don’t have sons will dress up one of their daughters and present them as a son to avoid social criticism.”

For some of the girls who become bacha posh, there’s a freedom that most would never otherwise experience, says the mental health counselor. They can run on the streets, play, go to the shops: they are unremarkable and expected to be seen in public space, the precise opposite of a girl’s experience in much of Afghanistan.

That was Omid’s experience, says the counselor. “He has the freedom to travel and work. He is friends with local boys, and he is now being asked to give that up,” she said.

And so when some bacha posh hit puberty — and can no longer disguise themselves as boys — it can be traumatic. Some “are unable to conform to the feminine traits and behaviors required by conservative society,” says the counselor. She says they experience psychological trauma — including Omid.

Trauma — and resentment, says a psychologist who has worked with women facing gender-based violence. She requested anonymity to speak freely about bacha posh because of the risks of retribution from the Taliban for discussing this taboo topic.

Bacha posh also experience the vulnerabilities of life as a boy in Afghanistan, which is replete with its own dangers, says Fetrat of Human Rights Watch. “The girls subjected to this practice face abuses, including sexual abuses outside the home, child labor, severe psychological, physical and identity-related harms.”

“The Taliban’s misogynist structure systematically treats women and girls as inferior,” she says. “Yet when women and girls are left with no choice but to attempt dressing as males, just to survive, they are met with punishment.”

Taliban under fire for hosting designated terrorists in Kabul’s Diplomatic Hub

March 9, 2026 Current News Articles

Express Tribune

March 09, 20265

Recent reports emerging from Kabul indicate that the Afghan Taliban may be adopting a tactic reminiscent of those used during their 1990s insurgency: positioning themselves or allied militants in areas considered too sensitive for opponents to strike, according to the Associated Press of Pakistan.

Security officials and regional analysts say high-ranking figures from globally proscribed militant organisations are allegedly being sheltered by the Taliban within Kabul’s tightly guarded diplomatic quarter, particularly in the Wazir Akbar Khan neighbourhood of the Green Zone.

Critics view this as a deliberate attempt to shield militant leaders from potential targeted operations by Pakistan or other neighbouring states.

The strategy echoes patterns seen during the Afghan civil war. In September 1995, Taliban fighters reportedly used the “German Club” — an international facility in Kabul — as overnight accommodation, knowing rival Afghan factions would avoid attacking the site due to the presence of foreign personnel.

Observers say the current situation appears to mirror that earlier tactic: positioning key militant figures in areas where military action could risk diplomatic fallout or civilian harm.

According to intelligence-based claims circulating in regional media and security circles, several individuals linked to Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and other militant networks are believed to be operating from locations within or near Kabul’s diplomatic enclave. Among those reportedly present are TTP leader Noor Wali Mehsud, militant commander Hafiz Gul Bahadur, Baloch militant figure Bashir Zeb, as well as militants originating from Central Asian states.

The area of particular concern is Wazir Akbar Khan, a district that hosts embassies, international organisations and residences of diplomats and United Nations staff. The presence of militant figures in such a location would complicate any attempt by foreign governments to conduct targeted operations against them.

A prominent Pakistani journalist has also publicly referred to similar claims, stating that international organisations and diplomatic personnel working in Kabul have privately raised concerns with Taliban authorities about the presence of armed militants near diplomatic compounds..

According to the journalist, some UN personnel and international NGO staff have expressed security concerns and may consider relocating if the situation deteriorates further. The Afghan Taliban leadership has repeatedly denied that members of TTP operating in Afghanistan should be regarded as terrorists.

In a recent interview, Mullah Mohammad Yaqoob, Afghanistan’s acting defence minister and son of the late Taliban founder Mullah Omar, described TTP members as “refugees” rather than militants. “Who can explain to Pakistan that your terrorist is not our terrorist?” Yaqoob remarked, suggesting that the Taliban government does not share Islamabad’s designation of the group.

However, TTP is widely recognised internationally as a terrorist organisation. The United Nations Security Council, the United States and several other governments have designated the group as responsible for numerous attacks in Pakistan, including suicide bombings and assaults targeting civilians, security forces and educational institutions.

Yaqoob’s remarks effectively acknowledged that TTP members are present in Afghanistan, although he framed their presence as that of displaced individuals rather than organised militants.

Analysts have noted parallels between the Taliban’s current stance and the position adopted by the group prior to the United States-led intervention in Afghanistan in 2001.

Following the September 11 attacks, the international community demanded that the Taliban hand over Osama bin Laden, the leader of al-Qaeda accused of orchestrating the attacks. Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar — father of Mullah Yaqoob — refused, describing bin Laden as a “guest” protected under Afghan traditions of hospitality.

At the time, the Taliban government maintained that bin Laden had taken refuge in Afghanistan and would not be surrendered to the United States without evidence being presented in an Islamic court. The refusal ultimately led to the US-led military intervention in October 2001.

Under the banner of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), a coalition of more than 50 countries participated in the campaign against al-Qaeda and Taliban forces.

Nearly a quarter of a century later, critics argue that similar reasoning is again being used by the Taliban leadership to justify the presence of militant groups inside Afghanistan.

Multiple international reports indicate that Afghanistan continues to host a wide range of militant organisations with regional and global agendas.

According to the United Nations Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team, more than 20 militant groups are believed to be operating in Afghanistan, maintaining training facilities, logistical networks and safe havens across different provinces.

Groups frequently cited in UN and Western intelligence assessments include al-Qaeda, TTP, Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISIS-K), the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, the East Turkestan Islamic Movement — also known as the Turkistan Islamic Party — Katibat Imam al-Bukhari, the Islamic Jihad Group and Jamaat Ansarullah, a Tajik militant organisation.

Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Russia and China have also called on the Afghan Taliban to eliminate militant groups that they view as threats to Central Asia, China, Russia and Pakistan.

However, the Taliban have consistently denied hosting terrorists, arguing that some members of banned organisations have taken refuge in Afghanistan after being outlawed in their home countries, including China, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Russia and Pakistan.

The UN Security Council Monitoring Team’s 2023–2024 report noted that al-Qaeda continues to maintain ties with the Taliban and operates training facilities in several Afghan provinces. The report also stated that foreign fighters from Central Asia, the Middle East and South Asia remain active in the country.

Similarly, assessments by the US Department of Defence and the US intelligence community have warned that Afghanistan risks becoming a safe haven for transnational militant groups.

A 2023 US congressional report stated that while ISIS-K remains the most visible external threat, al-Qaeda affiliates and other regional jihadist organisations continue to maintain networks across Afghanistan.

According to the US Treasury Department, al-Qaeda leaders have been able to operate within Afghanistan under Taliban protection, maintaining communication networks and facilitating recruitment and training.

Security analysts warn that the presence of multiple militant organisations in Afghanistan could pose a wider regional threat extending beyond Pakistan.

Central Asian governments have also expressed concern about militant groups composed of Uzbek, Tajik and Uyghur fighters operating within Afghanistan. Russia, China and several Central Asian states have repeatedly raised the issue in international forums.

Observers say the situation presents a complex challenge for the international community.

Unlike the period following the 9/11 attacks, when a large multinational military coalition operated in Afghanistan, there is currently no unified global military presence in the country.

As a result, regional actors — particularly Pakistan — have increasingly found themselves on the frontline in confronting militant groups that operate across porous borders.

Analysts argue that enhanced counter-terrorism cooperation and international engagement will be essential in preventing Afghanistan from once again becoming a hub for transnational militancy.

Pakistan Praised Trump. Now It Risks Being Caught Up in His War.

March 8, 2026 Current News Articles

By Elian Peltier

Reporting from Islamabad, Pakistan

The New York Times

March 7, 2026

U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran have set off a crippling energy crisis and sparked deadly protests in one of the world’s most populous Muslim nations.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif of Pakistan stood beside President Trump last October in Egypt and effusively praised him for “saving millions of lives” in the Middle East and stopping eight wars, noting that Pakistan was nominating him for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Many in Pakistan now say that Mr. Sharif’s praise has aged poorly.

Since the United States and Israel began bombing Iran last week, videos of his comments have resurfaced online, highlighting the complications that the war has created for Pakistan — a nuclear-armed nation that has a border with Iran, ties to Gulf Arab states and a brittle relationship with the United States.

On Friday in Islamabad, Pakistan’s capital, hundreds of protesters trampled on portraits of Mr. Trump and of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel. Some held photographs of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader of Iran who was killed in U.S.-Israeli strikes last Saturday.

Mr. Sharif’s government now has to justify its overtures to the Trump administration, which it pursued as an economic strategy to yield crypto and critical minerals deals and a geopolitical move to get more clout in South Asia at the expense of its rival, India. Pakistan, home to what is estimated to be the world’s largest Shiite community outside Iran, is now grappling with deadly anti-U.S. protests and an energy crisis sparked by the U.S.-Israeli bombing campaign.

“The Pakistani government is now under a lot of pressure for cozying up to Trump,” said Maleeha Lodhi, a former Pakistani ambassador to the United States and the United Nations.

Arif Hussain Wahidi, a Shiite political leader, told the crowds at Friday’s protests that he was ashamed that Mr. Sharif had nominated Mr. Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize, a move that the Pakistan prime minister made last year after the Pakistani government said Mr. Trump helped stop a short-lived conflict with India.

“The government must now recognize who the real victims of terrorism are and who the terrorists are,” Mr. Wahidi said.

At least 26 people died in anti-U.S. and anti-Israel protests in Pakistan in the past week, including 11 who were shot and killed as demonstrators tried to storm the U.S. Consulate in Karachi. The U.S. Embassy in Islamabad declined to say whether it was U.S. armed personnel or Pakistani security forces who opened fire.

Pakistan has walked a delicate line so far, condemning the strikes on Iran without criticizing the United States directly.

“The prime minister and the field marshal have to find a balance, but a good relationship with the U.S. is good for Pakistan,” said Mosharraf Zaidi, a government spokesman. Referring to Mr. Sharif and to the Pakistani army chief, Syed Asim Munir, he added: “They have the courage to withstand the criticism at home, which they know comes from a place of good will and pain for our Muslim brothers.”

Ms. Lodhi, the former ambassador, said that anger was not limited to the Shiite community. “That anti-U.S. sentiment is a national sentiment, not a sectarian one,” she said.

Pakistan also has had to manage its longstanding ties to the Gulf states that have been hit by Iran’s retaliatory missile and drone strikes. More than half of the $40 billion worth of remittances sent to Pakistan every year comes from the Gulf.

“It cannot be that Iran keeps hitting the Arabs and we say that we are neutral,” said Anwaarul Haq Kakar, a Pakistani senator and former caretaker prime minister.

On Saturday, Field Marshal Munir met with Saudi Arabia’s defense minister, Prince Khalid bin Salman, to discuss “Iranian attacks on the Kingdom and the measures needed to halt them,” according to a Pakistani military statement. Pakistan and Saudi Arabia signed a mutual defense pact last year stipulating that an attack on one is an attack on both, and on Tuesday Pakistan warned Iran that it is bound by that agreement.

Pakistan, a Sunni Muslim-majority country where 15 to 20 percent of the population is Shiite, has had a rocky relationship with Iran since its 1979 revolution. Pakistani officials say they have often tried to mediate between Iran’s leaders, the United States and Arab states.

But the impact of the current conflict is straining those efforts.

To preserve Pakistan’s dwindling energy stocks, which it hasn’t been able to replenish from the Gulf, the government is considering imposing a four-day workweek, and remote school and work. Pakistan has crude oil reserves for less than two weeks and liquefied natural gas through the end of the month, according to the oil ministry.

The chaos in Iran also threatens to spill over into Balochistan, a resource-rich province in southwestern Pakistan along the border with Iran. The United States has pledged $1.25 billion to finance a gold-copper mine in Balochistan, even as a separatist insurgency there has surged. Experts say it carried out more than 200 attacks last year.

“Any security vacuum on the Iranian side would make it easier for militants to move between Iran and Pakistan,” said Pearl Pandya, a senior analyst for South Asia at Armed Conflict Location & Event Data, a conflict-tracking group.

Pakistan is also counting on U.S. support in a conflict with another neighbor — Afghanistan, where it has been carrying out airstrikes on military installations for more than a week. As Pakistan has accused the country’s Taliban government of supporting militant groups that target Pakistani security forces, the State Department said Pakistan had a right to defend itself.

Pakistan “is far better off staying on the right side of the Trump administration particularly in times of instability, so long as it’s able to balance out the domestic side,” said Elizabeth Threlkeld, an analyst at the Stimson Center.

Privately, some Pakistani officials have expressed fears that Mr. Trump is too mercurial to build a lasting partnership. The relationship also remains troubled by a deep-seated view in Washington that Pakistan played a double game during the 20-year U.S. war in Afghanistan by covertly supporting the Taliban.

The latest conflict in the Middle East is likely to threaten that fragile balance, analysts said.

“We’ve had our challenging times with the United States,” said Jauhar Saleem, a Pakistani diplomat and former acting foreign minister. “It’s one of those times.”

Salman Masood and Zia ur-Rehman contributed reporting from Islamabad.

An ancient practice with new relevance

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