Washington, Dec 4: US President Donald Trump said Russian President Vladimir Putin “would like to end the war” in Ukraine, citing what he described as a “very good meeting” between Putin and two close Trump allies, Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, in Moscow.

Trump told reporters at the White House on Wednesday (local time) that he had spoken with Kushner and Witkoff following their talks with Putin. “Their impression was that he would like to see the war ended,” Trump said. “I think he’d like to get back to a more normal life. I think he’d like to be trading with the United States of America, frankly, instead of losing thousands of soldiers a week.”

Trump added, “I thought they had a very good meeting yesterday with President Putin. We’ll see what happens. It’s a war that should never have been started. It’s a war if I were president… that war would have never happened.”

He also reiterated his longstanding claim that the conflict would not have erupted if he had been in office. “If I were president, no war would have ever happened. They would have had 100 per cent of their territory. Nothing would have happened,” he said.

Trump described the battlefield toll as catastrophic. “Think of this — last month, 27,000 soldiers… mostly young soldiers died last month; in one month,” he said. “That’s the only reason I’m trying to help.”

He also said the US was no longer directly financing Ukraine’s war effort, telling reporters, “We’re not spending any money in the war, we’re selling to NATO. We’re not being ripped off like we were under Biden.”

Asked about Kremlin statements suggesting no compromise was forthcoming, Trump replied, “I don’t know what the Kremlin is doing.”

The Trump team’s back-channel contacts with Moscow have drawn global attention amid stalled frontline dynamics and ongoing diplomatic efforts. Casualty figures in the conflict remain contested, while the United States and European allies continue to debate next-phase military and political frameworks for ending the war.

President Putin arrives in New Delhi on Thursday for a summit talk with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

New Delhi, Nov 28: Indian Intelligence agencies have alerted the security forces to remain in a state of very high alert in the wake of the developments unfolding in Pakistan. Trouble is brewing in Pakistan in the wake of rumours relating to the death of former Prime Minister, Imran Khan.

Huge crowds are mobilising outside the Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi, where Khan is lodged. Thousands of PTI supporters have gathered outside the jail demanding that they meet with their leader.

The Pakistan Army, however has refused permission for a meeting with Khan, while also dismissing rumours about his death.

Intelligence Bureau officials say that rumours relating to the death of Khan began to circulate three days back. Since then there has been a massive build up of his supporters. If the Army does not provide proof that Khan’s supporters have been seeking, then violence is bound to engulf Pakistan.

An official said that violence is imminent in Pakistan given the current situation. For India, the spillover is the concern and trouble in the neighbourhood is never a good sign for national security.

An Intelligence Bureau official said that the ISI is already planning a series of major attacks in India, so that attention is diverted. Khan remains a very popular figure in Pakistan and if news about his death is true, then the country would witness violence of a very unprecedented nature.

It would be beyond the control of the security forces in Pakistan to control the people and eventually the country could face a civil war like situation. The Army wants to keep Imran Khan down and all issues relating to him under wraps.

However, it may not be able to sustain this for long as the people are getting anxious and are seeking answers. The ratings of the establishment in Pakistan, especially with Field Marshal Asim Munir at the helm has hit an all time low.

An official said that the people are being stopped by force and the Army does realise that a majority of the population wants the current dispensation out.

Pakistan watchers say that the people are particularly upset that the Army engineered a coup to take Khan out of power and install a dummy government under Shehbaz Sharif. There is no respect for a democratically-elected process and the people have being voicing their disgruntlement against this, experts add.

Indian officials say that the rumours relating to Khan’s death was something that the establishment did not expect. This has put the Army on the back foot. If one looks at the build up of supporters, it is massive and the Army would not be able to contain them by using force.

Officials say that the Pakistan Army would look to buy time so that it would be able to handle the situation. In order to buy time, the Army and ISI would plot attacks in India so that this would act as a diversion for sometime.

The chatter that has been picked up suggests a sense of urgency to carry out a spectacular strike in India. The ISI is not planning some small attack. It wants one on the scale of a Mumbai 26/11 or Pulwama so that the attention and focus of the Pakistan people is completely diverted, another official said.

Intelligence agencies have alerted security officials to keep a watch particularly on the eastern border. There is a lot of ISI related activity that is on in Bangladesh. Several modules have come up in collaboration between the Lashkar-e-Tayiba and Harkat-ul-Jihadi-Islami (HuJI) with the sole intention of carrying out attacks in India.

Pakistan is also planning to fly in Hafiz Saeed to Bangladesh so that he could give the members of this module a pep talks. Officials say that Saeed is always roped in to give the terrorists of his modules a pep talk just before a major attack is launched.

This was found to be the case prior to the Mumbai 26/11 attacks. Officials say that given the current situation in Pakistan, the ISI is desperate to create a diversion.

With the borders with Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab becoming harder to operate, the focus is on the modules of Bangladesh to carry out a major attack in India, officials add. Officials also add that such a diversion would give the Pakistan Army time to handle the situation relating to Imran Khan, which in turn would calm the people.

New Delhi, Nov 28: Days after an Afghan national allegedly opened fire at two National Guard members near the White House, US President Donald Trump has announced a sweeping immigration decision, stating he intends to “permanently pause migration from all Third World countries.”

The proposed move, if implemented, could significantly affect millions seeking entry into the US for education, work, safety or asylum, and may reshape global migration patterns.

In a sharply-worded post on Truth Social on Thursday, President Trump stated that while the United States has advanced technologically, immigration policies over the years have weakened the country’s progress and impacted living standards.

He wrote: “I will permanently pause migration from all Third World Countries to allow the US system to fully recover, terminate all of the millions of Biden illegal admissions, including those signed by Sleepy Joe Biden’s Autopen, and remove anyone who is not a net asset to the United States, or is incapable of loving our Country, end all Federal benefits and subsidies to noncitizens of our Country, denaturalize migrants who undermine domestic tranquility, and deport any Foreign National who is a public charge, security risk, or non-compatible with Western Civilization.”

According to President Trump, the objective behind the policy is to dramatically reduce what he called “illegal and destabilizing populations.”

He argued that the only effective long-term solution is what he termed “reverse migration.”

Ending his statement, President Trump wrote: “Only REVERSE MIGRATION can fully cure this situation. Other than that, HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL, except those that hate, steal, murder, and destroy everything that America stands for – You won’t be here for long.”

Earlier, US Customs and Immigration Service Director Joseph Edlow said on Thursday that under President Trump’s orders, he has “directed a full-scale, rigorous re-examination of every Green Card for every alien from every country of concern”.

India is not on the list of countries of concern, nor are others from South Asia, except for Afghanistan.

The actions followed Wednesday’s shooting rampage by Rahmanullah Lakanwal near the White House.

One of the National Guard soldiers he shot, Sarah Beckstrom, died on Thursday, while the other is in a critical condition in a hospital.

Lakanwal, who was injured before his capture, is also in hospital.

Soon after the shooting, President Trump said, “We must now re-examine every single alien who has entered our country from Afghanistan”.

Under the broadened scrutiny announced by Eldow, several hundred thousand Green Card holders from the 19 countries will be put under “rigorous re-examination”.

President Trump had put those countries under a watch list in June and restricted the issuing of visas to their citizens, expressing concern over the ability of the US to vet the applicants from there.

The other countries on the list are Burma, Chad, Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen, Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, and Venezuela.

Lakanwal, who had worked with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in Afghanistan, came to the US under programmes to protect Afghans who had cooperated with the US when the Taliban took over.