Rooma News ; US completes troop withdrawal from Iraq after 23 years.Long march looms as KP and the Centre trade warnings

 Islamabad

Wednesday, September 30, 2026

By Rooma Mehmood

Rooma News

World and Pakistan, in brief

Edited and published in Islamabad.

World

US completes troop withdrawal from Iraq after 23 years

American forces have finished their full withdrawal from Iraq, ending a presence that began with the 2003 invasion. Iraqi leaders marked the moment as a milestone for the country's sovereignty.

Concerns remain, however, about the continuing influence of pro-Iran groups inside the country.

Pakistan

Long march looms as KP and the Centre trade warnings

KP Chief Minister Sohail Afridi remains defiant about an October 4 march on Islamabad, despite federal warnings of possible governor's rule. PTI leaders have discussed a possible delay. The Centre accuses the KP government of weak counterterrorism performance, while the PPP welcomed an invitation to an opposition multiparty conference.

World

Morocco names its first woman prime minister

King Mohammed VI has appointed Fatima Ezzahra El Mansouri, mayor of Marrakesh and a member of the Authenticity and Modernity Party, after her party's election success.

Pirate hijacking ends in rescue, but five crew die

Puntland forces freed the oil tanker MT Honour 25, seized in April. Five crew members were killed by the pirates before the rescue: three Pakistanis, one Indian and one from Myanmar. They are the first deaths linked to Somali piracy in over a decade.

Tokyo's rain streak hits 34 days

The city has recorded 34 consecutive days of rainfall, the longest run since records began in 1886. It is one day beyond the previous mark.

Also in the news: an Israel-bound flight was diverted to Saudi Arabia after a cockpit incident, with jets scrambled over hijacking fears. UK police found petrol but no explosives in an airbase security scare and released five suspects on bail. A Russian Tu-154 crashed in the Far East, killing six of seven aboard. In Gaza, an Israeli airstrike killed a senior Hamas commander, and settler attacks continued in the West Bank.

Pakistan

Forces kill militants in KP and Balochistan

Intelligence-based operations in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, including Mir Ali and Tank, and in Chagai, Balochistan, killed multiple terrorists. Several were described as India-backed or linked to banned groups.

Prime Minister opens London Stock Exchange session

Shehbaz Sharif became the first Pakistani premier to open a session of the exchange and met UK finance figures. Separately, an IMF-linked plan was unveiled to deepen the local-currency government bond market. The US told Islamabad its Kashmir policy has not changed.

Fifth polio case of the year reported in KP

Bannu division accounts for most of this year's cases. Elsewhere, petrol and diesel prices saw modest cuts, and Peshawar launched a new Pink Bus service for women. Probes into high-profile cases continue.

Editorial

A World in Transition, and Pakistan's Narrow Window

By Rooma Mehmood, Islamabad

September 30, 2026, offers a snapshot of a planet still rearranging itself after years of conflict, climate stress, and institutional fatigue. The quiet departure of the last American troops from Iraq closes a chapter that began with regime change and ended in strategic exhaustion. Morocco's appointment of its first female prime minister is a modest but real marker of social change in North Africa. At the same time, the deaths of five crew members, including Pakistanis, at the hands of Somali pirates remind us that old threats never fully disappear; they simply wait for attention to wander elsewhere. Record rainfall in Tokyo and the daily grind of the Gaza conflict further illustrate that climate and unresolved wars continue to shape daily life more than any single summit declaration.

For Pakistan the picture is sharper and more urgent. Security forces continue to neutralize militants, yet the political temperature between Islamabad and Peshawar remains dangerously high. A planned long march, threats of governor's rule, and mutual accusations of soft-pedalling terrorism risk turning a security challenge into a full constitutional confrontation. Economic signals are mixed but not hopeless: outreach in London and an IMF-backed effort to deepen the domestic bond market show that policymakers understand the need for credibility with investors. The question is whether political theatre will again undercut those efforts.

Pakistan does not control global oil routes, great-power withdrawals, or Tokyo's weather. It does control whether its own political actors treat counterterrorism and constitutional stability as shared national interests rather than partisan weapons. The coming weeks will test whether the country can keep its internal disputes from swallowing the limited space it still has to navigate a turbulent world. Restraint, institutional dialogue, and a clear-eyed focus on economic delivery would serve Pakistan far better than another cycle of brinkmanship. The rest of the world is moving on; Pakistan cannot afford to remain stuck in its own familiar loop.

Rooma News, Islamabad. Written and edited by Rooma Mehmood.