ISLAMABAD (The Thursday Times) — Caitlin Doornbos, a Washington-based national security reporter for the New York Post, has described her time in Islamabad as “wonderful and warm”, praising the curiosity of the Pakistanis she met while in the city to cover the talks between the United States and Iran.
Speaking to The Thursday Times, Doornbos said residents had shown a strong interest in world affairs, and that meeting Pakistanis had been one of the unexpected highlights of her trip.
“I’m not here for political reasons,” she said. Her job, she said, was to cover the war, and what she hopes will be its end, for audiences in the United States. Getting to know the people of Pakistan had been “the added sugar on top”.
‘You just don’t know’
Asked how hopeful she was about the Islamabad talks, Doornbos was cautious. “The thing about being a reporter, especially in conflicts like this, is you just don’t know what’s going to happen,” she said. People naturally hoped for good news, she added, but it was too early to say what would come next.
Doornbos had recently said she had spoken directly to President Donald Trump. The only firm thing she could take from those conversations, she said, was that as of the previous day, discussions were still taking place. “That’s the only thing I can base off of,” she said.
Islamabad has drawn foreign correspondents from around the world this month as host of the talks between Washington and Tehran.
