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ISLAMABAD: Pakistan inaugurated its national pavilion at GITEX Global 2025 in Dubai on Monday, featuring ten leading startups and over twenty established tech firms as part of efforts to strengthen the country’s presence in the global digital economy.

The Pakistan Pavilion, launched by Federal Minister for Information Technology and Telecommunication Shaza Fatima Khawaja, will serve as a hub for business networking, investor meetings, and technology showcases. The initiative, led by the IT ministry in partnership with national tech organizations, aims to attract international partnerships and investment into Pakistan’s growing IT sector.

“Pakistan’s presence at GITEX Global reflects our confidence, our capability, and our commitment to a digitally empowered future under the leadership of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Vision of Digital Nation Pakistan,” Khawaja was quoted as saying in a statement by the IT ministry. 

“With a young, skilled workforce and an expanding base of IT exports, Pakistan is ready to play a central role in shaping the global tech economy. The Pakistan Pavilion represents not just our innovation but our invitation to the world to partner in growth.”

The ministry said it is facilitating the participation of ten promising startups at GITEX — one of the world’s largest technology exhibitions — to help showcase local innovation and connect entrepreneurs with global investors. The effort is part of Pakistan’s broader strategy to expand its startup ecosystem and boost IT exports, which crossed $3.76 billion in the last fiscal year.

Pakistan’s delegation includes representatives from the Ministry of IT and Telecom, the Pakistan Software Export Board (PSEB), Ignite – National Technology Fund, and the National Information Technology Board (NITB). These government-backed organizations oversee technology policy, startup incubation and digital transformation projects across the country.

Officials said Pakistan’s growing presence at GITEX follows its recognition as “Tech Destination of the Year” in 2024, adding that the 2025 pavilion signals the country’s continued focus on innovation, youth entrepreneurship, and digital partnerships with the Gulf region and beyond.

ISLAMABAD: Border clashes over the weekend between Afghanistan and Pakistan led to the deaths of dozens of soldiers, the most serious clash between the two countries since the Taliban seized power in Kabul in 2021, and gained the attention of US President Donald Trump. By Monday, the exchange of fire had ceased.

WHAT HAPPENED?
Late on Saturday, Taliban forces attacked Pakistani military posts along the length of the 2,600 km (1,600 miles) border, with Pakistani forces later retaliating. Guns, artillery and drones exchanged fire into the early hours of Sunday. Some sporadic fighting continued on Sunday. Pakistan said 23 of its soldiers died and the Taliban said nine of its men were killed, though both sides claimed to have inflicted far higher damage on the other.

WHAT CAUSED THE FIGHTING?
Pakistan carried out an air strike on the Afghan capital of Kabul last week, which targeted the head of the Pakistani Taliban militant group, according to Pakistani security officials. It is not clear if he survived. The Taliban said its Saturday attack was in response to the violation of Afghan airspace.

WHO ARE THE PAKISTANI TALIBAN?
In 2007, a number of militant outfits active in northwest Pakistan from the Pashtun ethnic group formed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which is commonly known as the Pakistani Taliban. The group was modelled on the Afghan Taliban, an ethnic Pashtun outfit that in the 1990s conquered Afghanistan — before being ousted by a US-led invasion in 2001. But the TTP was more radical, taking its ideology from Al-Qaeda. Over the next few years, the TTP attacked markets, mosques, airports, military bases, police stations and also gained territory — mostly along the border with Afghanistan, but also deep inside Pakistan, including the Swat Valley, where they later shot schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai.
They also fought alongside the Afghan Taliban in Afghanistan and hosted Afghan fighters in Pakistan, forming a close bond. Pakistan launched a series of military operations against the TTP on its own soil, with limited success. In 2014, the TTP attacked a school in the northwest city of Peshawar, killing more than 130 children. That triggered a further military offensive, which largely pushed the group into Afghanistan.

WHAT HAPPENED AFTER THE TALIBAN TOOK AFGHANISTAN? 
Pakistan welcomed the return to power of the Taliban in 2021, with then Prime Minister Imran Khan, saying that Afghans had “broken the shackles of slavery.” But Islamabad soon found that the Taliban’s loyalties lay elsewhere. There has since been a sharp increase in attacks by the TTP in Pakistan.
Islamabad says that the TTP’s leadership and many of its fighters are based in Afghanistan. Pakistan has repeatedly called on the Taliban administration to rein in the TTP, but Kabul says that the group does not have a presence in the country.
Islamabad has been accused of supporting the two-decade Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan against the US-backed government — which it denies — but any influence over the group has collapsed. Now, Islamabad says its patience has run out.

WHY IS PAKISTAN ALSO ACCUSING INDIA? 
Islamabad says India, its longstanding adversary, is working with Afghanistan to support the TTP and other militants against Pakistan. New Delhi denies the claim. Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi is currently on a multi-day trip to India, during which New Delhi upgraded relations between the two nations, raising further concerns in Pakistan.

WHAT HAS TRUMP SAID? “I hear there’s a war now going on between Pakistan and Afghanistan,” Trump said Sunday, as he flew to the Middle East. “I’ll have to wait till I get back. You know, I’m doing another one, because I’m good at solving wars.”