How did Pakistan become the peacemakers?
The Story
The Times
3.9 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 22 May 2026
⏱️ 29 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
For decades, Pakistan was viewed by Western leaders with deep suspicion. They were accused of taking billions in US counter terrorism funding, while allegedly harbouring Taliban networks at the same time – even Osama Bin Laden himself. Now, that same country finds itself at the centre of efforts to broker peace between the US and Iran. So how did Pakistan pull off one of the most dramatic geopolitical reinventions of the modern era? And who's side are they really on?
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Guests: Christina Lamb, chief foreign correspondent, The Sunday Times.
Host: Luke Jones.
Producer: Dave Creasey & Harry Stott.
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Read more: Pakistan’s PM is ecstatic to be US-Iran peacemaker. Not everyone agrees
Clips: BBC, CNN.
Photo: Getty Images
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | From The Times and the Sunday Times, this is The Story. I'm Luke Jones. |
| 0:10.0 | The US ceasefire with Iran, which Israel has reportedly begrudgingly had to go along with, is still in place for now. |
| 0:25.6 | But as each side dances around the subject of how to extend this sort of peace, one country, an unlikely country perhaps, is in the middle of it all, mediating Pakistan. |
| 0:32.6 | Pakistan has become a vital conduit for this messaging. |
| 0:36.6 | It's all-powerful military chief, Field Marshal Assamunei, has worked the phones with President |
| 0:42.8 | Trump, while Prime Minister Shabasharif spoke to Iran's president, promising Islamabad's |
| 0:48.2 | help and constructive role in advancing peace in the region. |
| 1:00.2 | The same Pakistan that the U.S. not too long ago called a terrorist safe haven, |
| 1:04.4 | who provided help to the Taliban, who'd been accused of sheltering Assal al-Bin-Laden, |
| 1:05.9 | the very one. |
| 1:13.6 | We can no longer be silent about Pakistan safe havens for terrorist organizations, the Taliban, and other groups that pose a threat to the region and beyond. |
| 1:20.4 | They hosted the first high-level talks between the U.S. and Iran in 50 years. |
| 1:26.6 | So how did that come about? |
| 1:28.2 | And whose side are they really on? |
| 1:40.3 | The Sunday Times' |
| 1:41.7 | Christina Lam is just back from Pakistan |
| 1:43.6 | where she interviewed the Prime Minister. |
| 1:46.2 | For Pakistan, this is a huge opportunity. It's a sort of game changer, as people described it to me. |
| 1:53.6 | The story today, how did Pakistan become the peacemakers. |
| 2:15.0 | My name is Christina Lam. I'm Chief Foreign Correspondent for the Sunday Times, |
| 2:17.5 | so I'm pretty busy these days. |
| 2:20.8 | Christina's been reporting on Pakistan for decades. |
... |
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