Google Speech-to-Text API Automatic Transcription (Chirp). Treat it as a searchable index of what was broadcast, not a quotation record.
00:00:00um, unlike
00:00:01of in his first term uh, where uh he seemed to retain
00:00:05uh a fairly
00:00:07of diverse um set of sources of information,
00:00:11um, he seems to be
00:00:14um, locked inside bubble where people largely
00:00:18tell him what he wants to I hear, don't uh,
00:00:21know um, how so much of a surprise the mid-term elections are
00:00:25going to
00:00:26be for the president, um, clearly when
00:00:29of he wakes up on the morning
00:00:33in of November 4th, um, if uh, the situation is as it seems to be at the moment, um, he's going to be
00:00:36dealing with very different political reality than the one that he's been
00:00:40living with for the past two
00:00:43of years. so what if the republicans lose control of
00:00:46congress? in terms of an electoral
00:00:50setback, do you think that it could push Trump
00:00:53back to the diplomatic table, or you think
00:00:57that
00:00:57you know it could escalate the confrontation? "there seem to be divided opinions
00:01:01on this, on which side do you, which side would you
00:01:05take? I think uh, in
00:01:09a the short term, I think President Trump's instinct will be to
00:01:13rely more on
00:01:14of his own authority, on executive power that does
00:01:17of not of require consultation and
00:01:20authorization from Congress, and that we could see in the short
00:01:24term a move toward
00:01:27escalation, in the long term." however, he's going to
00:01:31of be of dependent upon um the constraints and the
00:01:34the levels of funding that he gets from the congress
00:01:38and in terms
00:01:40of the impact of
00:01:41a republican loss in November,
00:01:44of it's going to depend to a large extent on the magnitude
00:01:51of of of the loss. i think most observers now assume that the
00:01:53of democrats will take control
00:01:55of the house of representatives, that's going to have major
00:01:59impact. in terms of funding and in terms of
00:02:02oversight, but uh, right now,
00:02:05the the betting is that it's more likely than not that the democrats will also
00:02:09take control
00:02:10of the senate uh, and that will put concrete constraints
00:02:13on uh President Trump's ability to
00:02:17staff his administration, um,
00:02:20to nominate federal
00:02:22judges, and I think um, if
00:02:26the magnitude
00:02:29of the electoral loss for the Republicans is significant
00:02:32enough uh when combined with the fact that we're entering the
00:02:36last two
00:02:37of years um
00:02:37of the second term of a presidential administration where President
00:02:41Trump is 80 years
00:02:43of old and not eligible to run for re-election um
00:02:47a we may see um his control of his own party
00:02:51start to slip and members
00:02:53of the Republican minorities in Congress uh start to uh
00:02:57diverge from his uh
00:02:58a policy agenda.
00:03:02um, is Washington pursuing a
00:03:05coherent end game with Iran in your opinion?
00:03:09of um, you know, of course it seems like Iran is maintaining its
00:03:13posture, so so the simple, the simple
00:03:17answer is no, uh, Washington was not pursuing a coherent
00:03:20start game, and it is not
00:03:22of pursuing a coherent end game. I think uh, President Trump would like
00:03:26to find an exit strategy, I think
00:03:29in that was the... message that he was sending with the Islamabad memorandum
00:03:33of understanding, but it's
00:03:36become
00:03:38in increasingly unclear what the substantive elements of
00:03:41that strategy would be, there may be some
00:03:45additional flexibility
00:03:49in accepting unpopular terms after the
00:03:53mid-terms, when there is not an immediate electoral
00:03:55of consequence, um, but as of now
00:03:59um they've uh they've tried a military solution that's
00:04:02failed um
00:04:04a they've uh tried um I would say half-heartedly
00:04:08a diplomatic route that's also failed um
00:04:11and uh
00:04:13in right now the the primary focus seems to be on economic
00:04:16pressure
00:04:17a uh of which has the potential uh
00:04:19of to have an impact but will only work over the
00:04:22long-term US and
00:04:25Iran you think
00:04:27that there's a chance that that could also... change
00:04:30after the midterms, you think that
00:04:34you know there would be
00:04:35a reaction to whatever happens in the polls, you think that
00:04:39you know if if the the there is the results are what we expect
00:04:43there's going to be
00:04:44of some kind of reaction as far as
00:04:46a relationship between the current administration and netan
00:04:49yahu? oh you mean US and
00:04:52Israel? um, yes, i
00:04:56think there there will be um, well...
00:05:00there may potentially be a change of administration in Israel as
00:05:03well, so I think before we get to the US
00:05:06mid-terms, we have to see what the results
00:05:09of the Israeli elections are, and what the
00:05:13approach the new um Israeli government, if there
00:05:17is one uh will be. um, one the problems that
00:05:21we've been facing in this pre-electoral period
00:05:25is that the pre-electoral periods in Israel and the United
00:05:28States have overlapped and the interests of President
00:05:32Trump and President Netanyahu have diverged.
00:05:36President Trump uh has had an interest in deescalating and getting this
00:05:40conflict out the headlines. easing pressure on uh world
00:05:44energy markets in attempt to uh bring down
00:05:48energy costs and inflation for American
00:05:51voters uh whereas prime minister Netanyahu has had uh an
00:05:55interest in escalating and highlighting um the direct
00:05:59threat uh to Israel an attempt to uh rally
00:06:02support for his own coalition um after the
00:06:05election uh those pressures will ease uh
00:06:09so um there there will be an opportunity. uh
00:06:13for uh the two sides to try to uh
00:06:16harmonize their approaches again. the problem is
00:06:20that um prime minister Netanyahu for number of
00:06:23reasons uh has done tremendous damage to the image
00:06:27of Israel in the United States and I think we've seen that um
00:06:31play out in uh the mid-term election campaign
00:06:35and the the incoming Congress I think is going to be much more skeptical
00:06:38particularly if uh Mr. Netanyahu prevails and remains prime minister.
00:06:43is going to be much more skeptical of that relationship.
00:06:47Right, fair enough, please stay with us. I'm going to also introduce Dr. Jared
00:06:50owell who's former US diplomat, now joining us. Dr.
00:06:54Jared, when we look at the Trump administration and of
00:06:58course, it's permanent suspension of labor certification
00:07:02applications for Microsoft, several major IT
00:07:06firms. While launching investigations into
00:07:09nine universities, what is this? tell us about the
00:07:13administration's broader immigration strategy and
00:07:17you know how far could this crackdown really go in your
00:07:21opinion? well, I think we have to look at the the crackdown as what
00:07:25we're seeing in terms of larger US foreign policy in general, I would say
00:07:29this crackdown relates economic nationalism, whher the the
00:07:32president Trump is trying to move forward, what what he sees this is uh America
00:07:36first agenda, which is
00:07:38we are prioritizing uh Americans first uh that that
00:07:43largely said, um, there still hasn't been necessarily a correlation
00:07:47to show that that these number of Microsoft workers are taking American
00:07:51jobs, this is something the administration hasn't yet proven, um, but
00:07:55but more or less I think one the larger implications could be is
00:07:58that employers and as well as those seeking
00:08:02employment
00:08:03in the United States would be dissuaded from attracting any kind of
00:08:06international talent to the United States, which which has been
00:08:10a um '
00:08:13huge um advantage to the United States
00:08:16for for many, many decades now, so I think that's a major risk
00:08:19to to what's happening about the part the Trump
00:08:22administration. Vice president
00:08:26JD Vans has also accused Microsoft of
00:08:29benefiting from thousands of H1
00:08:32visas, green cards, while of course laying off
00:08:36American workers, how credible is the administration's
00:08:39argument that skilled workforce immigration? programs are being
00:08:43used at the expense of US
00:08:46employees, isn't it an age-old argument for
00:08:50a sense? it is an ageold argument, and again as
00:08:54i just said in my previous comment that this is something that the administration hasn't
00:08:58actually proven any causization between the the number of actual
00:09:01uh green card workers or those who come on visas and
00:09:05actually the and microsoft and other companies laying Americans
00:09:08off. um another another key question would be '
00:09:12the the level of skill set, I mean we we know that currently in the United States we we
00:09:16have a disenrollment in universities uh
00:09:19across the country as the cost of um
00:09:23the
00:09:23cost of um universities have skyrocketed addition to the job market
00:09:27even
00:09:32the in in technological skills have have also been uh declining because growth of AI so I think this could be a
00:09:36major concern moving forward uh for for uh American
00:09:40companies as they seek to look for a...
00:09:45Microsoft says that about 80% of its H1 b
00:09:49applications last physical year involved extending or
00:09:52changing the status of existing employees. Do you think that this
00:09:56complicates the administrations claim that companies are using these
00:10:00programs you to replace American workers if they're
00:10:03only changing them for example extending
00:10:07them or changing the status? Well again I
00:10:11think it comes back to. the idea that that facts matter here in this this particular
00:10:15instance, Microsoft is is making the case that uh that this
00:10:18isn't actually true, that they're just renewing visas, so they're making that clear distinction
00:10:22between renewing visas and bringing people. back
00:10:25into uh to to work versus bringing
00:10:29people to work in the United States, so um, so I definitely think it it
00:10:33complicates the the narrative from from the current
00:10:36administration definitely, but it but is it
00:10:40also sort of allow them to to
00:10:43justify what what is happening as far as you know
00:10:47Microsoft and these technological companies are concerned?
00:10:51no, I think I think it doesn't, it doesn't justify that.
00:10:55Right, fair enough, let
00:10:55me come back, I think
00:10:56it doesn't justify this, I'm sorry, come back, let let me just
00:11:00come back to you, I'm also going to go to Paul Frit,
00:11:04Paul, when we look at what what is being said, in your
00:11:07opinion, this argument versus the fact that it's
00:11:11impacting us citizens, how do you credit the
00:11:14situation, when we look at this
00:11:16crackdown, well I, I
00:11:20think um, as as my colleague said, we see it
00:11:24as ' part of a broader uh crackdown on
00:11:28immigration from all sources um that is
00:11:31not particularly data driven
00:11:35um there there is no evidence for the
00:11:39notion that the H1B program is
00:11:43diverting is is displacing large numbers
00:11:47of US-born tech workers
00:11:50um and in fact uh this has been um major source of
00:11:54strength. to the US economy has been the ability to attract um
00:11:58and integrate and reward um talent from around the
00:12:02world. um the uh president Trump a couple of weeks
00:12:06ago hosted uh Shin Ping um in Washington and he
00:12:10hosted a state dinner that included CEOs
00:12:13of tech companies uh and
00:12:1780 to 90% them were foreign born were immigrants who
00:12:21themselves had come to the country through the H1B program.
00:12:25um foreign born talent uh has been a source of US
00:12:29leadership on uh on AI and and other
00:12:32uh cutting edge uh tech sectors uh
00:12:36so um this uh approach um not
00:12:40only uh cracking down on H1Bs but also on various forms
00:12:44of student visas on F1s on J1s on uh cutting
00:12:47back uh research funds from the federal government um
00:12:51it all is going to have a uh very
00:12:55harmful effect on the US economy, and in the case of
00:12:58H1Bs, given the fact that roughly 70%
00:13:02them come from India, it's going to become irritant in
00:13:05that bilateral relationship as well. fair
00:13:09enough, I know, Dr. Jard that you have limited time, but very
00:13:12quickly, the administration is also investigating
00:13:16nine leading universities, including Harvard, Yale
00:13:20and Stanford over this alleged visa abuse and
00:13:23concerns about of course... foreign influence as far as research particularly is
00:13:27concerned, where should the government draw the line in
00:13:31your opinion between legitimate oversight and political
00:13:35interference in these cases? as far as
00:13:39particularly higher education is concerned? well, I think that's an
00:13:42excellent question, and I think having been a former
00:13:46USA, former foreign service officer whose manage US government funds and also
00:13:50has been also been in academia. I think it's particularly important to know that the government
00:13:54does have the right and we should be on the hook for how we spend US tax
00:13:58dollars. however, on the other side of that, there is such notion in this country, and this is something
00:14:02that people come from all over
00:14:03the world to study here, is that we have academic freedom as which the government
00:14:07um doesn't interfere and what we can research, especially um
00:14:10on certain topics that that may be considered sensitive, um,
00:14:14but this isn't the case, this this
00:14:16is a growing concern that the administration is trying to impact or or or
00:14:20restrict what can be funded or researched, again
00:14:24understanding that, there there there are um restrictions on how we can spend us
00:14:28tax payer of funds, but um various critics have noted that
00:14:31there's this kind of dubious kind of connection to what the administrator says uh the
00:14:35administration claims uh may infringe
00:14:39upon um spending spending taxpayer funds in
00:14:42responsible way and also uh letting academics and student
00:14:46researchers have political freedom or or or have uh freed
00:14:50academic freedom to be able to write about or do research on on these different
00:14:53topics so - "I think we're seeing we're seeing something that that that has been
00:14:57largely unprecedented um here in
00:15:00in in the United States where universities who um rely
00:15:04especially for certain research programs larger on federal funding either have to
00:15:08comply or they have to stop research which is major disadvantage
00:15:11to um the the American people you one other aspect to
00:15:15add to this part is that you know lest we forget that American
00:15:19universities um and and those who come to study here are are it's a
00:15:23part of US soft power." um US American education is a
00:15:27part of is huge part of that and those who are educated in the United
00:15:30States um they when they finish the education they go back to
00:15:34their native countries um and
00:15:36they take that experience and
00:15:36they take living united states
00:15:38and they take those relationships with them um and so when when we malign
00:15:42that relationship these experiences uh we're really
00:15:46doing long-term harm to american interest and to the American
00:15:49people um moving
00:15:51forward fair enough thank you so much jar thank you for being
00:15:55with us for having when we look
00:15:59at
00:16:00you know what's happened as far as universities like Harvard Yales
00:16:04Stanford are concerned Dr. Jared is right you in terms. of
00:16:07image and what higher education stands for in the world globally as far
00:16:11as US is concerned. earlier on we
00:16:15also saw you know what a year ago there was far as
00:16:19the universities and and the current donald administration seems to be a continuing
00:16:23kind of
00:16:25you know policy is that correct and and
00:16:29what do you think is behind this kind of an uprore that we
00:16:33see now? i
00:16:37think it's has many elements, certainly
00:16:41at the core of Donald Trump's political
00:16:43identity is
00:16:46restrictionist approach to immigration.
00:16:50now that
00:16:51as as Jared said, when it comes to foreign
00:16:55students studying in the United States, that has negative
00:16:59impact on American soft power throughout the world, because
00:17:03many students from around the world come study in the United States
00:17:07are... become um sympathetic to American
00:17:10values, to American culture, and then take that experience back home.
00:17:14It also has a direct impact on American hard power,
00:17:18um, because as as I mentioned earlier, um, many
00:17:22the foreign students who come here end up staying and end
00:17:26up contributing massively to America's
00:17:29technological development and economic development.
00:17:33Um, we we see the uh, the CEOs of of Nvidia.
00:17:37Intel of SpaceX um of Yahoo, I mean all
00:17:41foreign born um who brought their
00:17:45talents to the US from around the world, so that has
00:17:49an impact, but um, in terms of American
00:17:52politics
00:17:54uh, the the broader attitude of this
00:17:57administration toward higher education
00:18:01um has um a bit of a darker um
00:18:04aspect to it uh which is that um, there has been
00:18:08a shift in electoral coalitions over the past several
00:18:12years uh where uh the more education you
00:18:16have um the less likely you are to support Donald
00:18:20Trump and his movement uh and
00:18:23that's uh simple fact of electoral math uh there there was
00:18:27one um election night uh where uh Mr. Trump
00:18:31himself blurted out I love the poorly
00:18:34educated
00:18:36uh so there is a sense that the universities have become
00:18:39a a part of sort of a
00:18:43political infrastructure that is
00:18:46antithetical to Mr. Trump's ideological
00:18:50movement, and so he has attacked them as
00:18:53such, that is not good
00:18:56for the future of the United
00:19:00States as as nation, it's not good for future
00:19:03generations. If skilled professionals
00:19:07start. beyond the United States, which you
00:19:11as far as countries and regions in terms of which countries and
00:19:14regions are best position to benefit, Canada,
00:19:18European countries, China even, how do you look at
00:19:21it? well, Canada,
00:19:25in the first instance, um, Europe
00:19:28and China certainly have the
00:19:31theoretical possibility to benefit, but I think in order for
00:19:35that to happen, there would need to be uh dramatic reforms to those
00:19:38countries immigration systems. i
00:19:41think up until this current
00:19:44administration, it had largely been seen as a
00:19:48major source of american
00:19:51strength in terms of economic
00:19:54competition with peers and near piers in Europe and
00:19:58China, that unlike those
00:20:01countries which are are both facing similar
00:20:05demographic challenges from populations
00:20:09that the US maintained robust system of immigration that was
00:20:13able to integrate both
00:20:16high-end talent to
00:20:20drive the cutting edges the economy
00:20:22technologically, but also
00:20:25labor
00:20:28that our social security system
00:20:32relies upon having a ratio of six active workers
00:20:36for every one retir. um, if you stop
00:20:39immigration, that that ratio starts to
00:20:42fall, and
00:20:44the the social welfare system becomes untenable over the long term, and I
00:20:48think we've seen versions. that in Europe and in
00:20:51China, Canada, I think, um,
00:20:55stands to benefit the most immediately in the short term, because Canada,
00:20:58like the United States, is nation of immigrants, and
00:21:02adheres to value system that
00:21:06is is fairly welcoming.
00:21:10In terms of,
00:21:11you know, the administration says that of course the measures are there to protect American
00:21:15jobs, critics warn of wider economic consequences,
00:21:19how can the... United States enforced their immigration rules and
00:21:22prevent genuine abuses also,
00:21:25and of course the fact that they don't undermining the workforce needs,
00:21:29research ecosystem, or do you think that the system at present
00:21:32is already well placed and
00:21:35you know can can is
00:21:37workable? Well,
00:21:41certainly in order to maintain confidence in the system, you have
00:21:45to enforce the rules and you have to police abuses. I
00:21:48myself started my... in the
00:21:51in the US foreign service as as a visa officer
00:21:55uh in what was then Bombay in Mumbai in India um there were
00:21:59certainly cases in which Indian firms were
00:22:03taking advantage the H1B system the L1 system the
00:22:07J1 system in ways in which the program was not
00:22:10intended but I think that's not what we're seeing in this current
00:22:14administration what we're seeing is a calling into question the
00:22:18basic logic and strategic objectives these
00:22:21programs, when the administration
00:22:25tries to raise the the fee for applying
00:22:29for an H1 visa from few hundred dollars to
00:22:32$100 thousand dollars, which has now been stopped in the
00:22:36courts, that is not a measure that's
00:22:39designed to police abuses the program, that's that's a measure that's
00:22:43designed to undermine the program as a whole, and I think that's what
00:22:47we're seeing with these latest measures as well.
00:22:51Right, thank you so much, thank you Paul, thank you for joining us on, of
00:22:55course such an important topic, thank you for your very valuable input, of course
00:22:59when we look at what's happening as far as the US, as far as this calling
00:23:02into question, the HP1 visas and the fact
00:23:06that its own ramifications on the system currently in
00:23:10place, and of course whether the system itself can
00:23:14be undermined completely like Paul said with the kind of
00:23:17measures that have been talked about. and and even to
00:23:21an extent tried to be put in place, those are important
00:23:25questions that perhaps need to be addressed. thank you so much for joining us today
00:23:29on
00:23:29perspective.
00:24:00The persecution of Muslims and other minorities has escalated
00:24:04alarmingly since the BJP took power in
00:24:06India. Modi regime is a mission to
00:24:09systematically marginalize the minorities.
00:24:13Muslims and other minorities are victims of Indian state
00:24:16terrorism. Minorities are living a state of fear
00:24:20and insecurity in India. Global Human rights
00:24:24bodies must step into protect minorities in
00:24:27India.
00:24:39From the heart of South Asia to the cross roads of central Asia, from the turbulent middle
00:24:43east and North Africa to the power corridors the west. I think
00:24:46that the proxy situation is very...
00:24:50problematic uh for the
00:24:54US, for Israel, for Iran, the Gulf
00:24:57states, for the world at large, this
00:25:01conflict could expand, that's what Pakistan and
00:25:05Qatar are trying to prevent, Israel wants the
00:25:09land of Palestine without the Palestinian people, and that is
00:25:13why we see the situation in
00:25:16Gaza being getting getting worse. Field
00:25:20Marshall Mier and Oman have have kept the channel open when nothing else was working, and
00:25:24that matters. And of course the cease fire came through Islamabad.
00:25:28Gender persecution is already a crime against humanity under the
00:25:32Rome statute, and the International Criminal Court has
00:25:36issued arrest warrants for the two top Taliban
00:25:39leaders. And Sheik Khani, who is the
00:25:43chief justice. I suspect that the Canadians are going
00:25:47to pressure on areas that will cause. lot of
00:25:51discomfort to the Americans as they're coming into the mid-term elections
00:25:55in November. Iran's declaration that it does not
00:25:58intend to produce a nuclear weapon.
00:26:02relevant, but declarations alone cannot resolve the
00:26:06security dilemma. Iran has always said it's prepared to continue the
00:26:10conflict, but it's clear that this preferences for this war to end, the US and the
00:26:14Trump administration I think is the same, so there is alignment, but
00:26:17obviously the problem has been, how we get
00:26:20there.
00:26:32Afghanistan remains a central hub in the global truck
00:26:36trade. According to the UNODC 2025 report,
00:26:40it produces 433 tons of opium in
00:26:432024, nearly 20% the global
00:26:46supply. Despite a temporary drop after the
00:26:502022 ban, cultivation rose again by
00:26:5419% in 2024. Trafficking networks
00:26:57stayed active. Average opium prices of
00:27:00$750. per kilogram reflect the continued
00:27:04demand and functioning smuggling routes. According to the world
00:27:08drug report 2025, total global opium
00:27:11production in 2024 reached
00:27:142,140 tons. Myanmar led with
00:27:18995 tons, which is 46%. Followed
00:27:21by Afghanistan at 433 tons, which is
00:27:2520%, while Mexico and Colombia produce smaller
00:27:29shares. These figures highlight that despite... and
00:27:33crackdowns, the global opium trade remains deeply
00:27:36entrenched with regional networks adapting and
00:27:40expanding. moreover, an cartels are shifting
00:27:44from plant-based at drugs to synthetics like crystal meth,
00:27:47which are cheaper to produce and easier to hide and harder to
00:27:51detect, showing that the threat is moving from fields to
00:27:55laboratories spreading globally, but Pakistan is
00:27:59actively countering this threat under the national
00:28:02anti-narcotics policy 2019 and backed by the laws like
00:28:06the control of narcotics substances act
00:28:091997. Pakistan's anti-narcotics force
00:28:13ANF conduct extensive operations in
00:28:16Balochistan, KP and Sinth. Using drones,
00:28:19satellite imagery and modern agricultural methods.
00:28:23Pakistan eradicates poppy crops even in remote
00:28:26areas. In 2024-2025 alone Pakistan cleared
00:28:30hundreds of hectares of puppy fields. dismantled
00:28:33419 illegal waterboards, destroyed
00:28:3764 solar systems and repatriated
00:28:40110 foreign traffickers. national seizures
00:28:44exceeded a 361 metric tons of narcotics
00:28:47worth billions, cutting off major supply lines
00:28:51with technology driven surveillance, corridor intelligence
00:28:55and the interagency coordination, pakistan maintains
00:28:59its poppy free status since 2
00:29:03and one, the country is not just protecting its borders, it's safeguarding
00:29:06the region and the world. Afghanistan may be the source, but
00:29:10Pakistan is the shield, leading the fight against narcotics
00:29:14and ensuring safer, drug free
00:29:17future.
00:29:24From the rore the crowd to the silence before the end, we bring you the
00:29:28pulse of every
00:29:29moment.
00:29:33every play, every score, every
00:29:36story, it all starts
00:29:38here,
00:29:43because the scoreboard never lies, and neither does
00:29:47Pakistan TV. This is the
00:29:51scoreboard only on Pakistan
00:29:53TV.
00:30:16Hello and welcome, you're watching Pakistan TV with news the Air I'm with Alia Bakia, let's
00:30:20head to
00:30:20us headlines
00:30:20first.
00:30:37At least 12 people have been killed and 39 others wounded
00:30:41in attack on king Khalid international airport in
00:30:44Riyadh.
00:30:50US President Donald Trump says he will soon decide whether to join Saudi strikes
00:30:54against the hoothies boling attack on reard's international airport adding that
00:30:58Washington has just.