The Taliban may be aiming to claim Afghanistan’s provincial capitals once U.S. military forces are withdrawn, said Deborah Lyons, U.N. special envoy for Afghanistan. Lyons stated that learning of President Joe Biden’s rapid plan to pull all troops by Sept. 11 this year caused “a seismic tremor through the Afghan political system and society at large.” When Biden announced the […]

The Presidential Palace said the changes in leadership at the Interior and Defense Ministries are intended to improve the management of the country’s defense amid the heavy fighting now taking place across the country. “For the better management of security and defense affairs, General Besmellah Mohammadi and General Abdul Satar Merzkowal were appointed as Acting Defense Minister and Acting Interior […]

Lawmakers from Balkh province in Afghanistan’s parliament and prominent political figures in Balkh on Tuesday said that hundreds of public uprising forces have been deployed in the main areas of Mazar-e-Sharif city to protect the city from a possible attack by the Taliban. They said that the Taliban has been pushed back from the main gates of Mazar-e-Sharif, and they […]

Following repeated attacks by the Taliban in various parts of the country, particularly in the north, President Ghani’s senior adviser Waheed Omer said on Tuesday that the group, with its attacks and “subversive” activities in the last month, has proved that it has not changed at all. Addressing a gathering to introduce Brig. Gen. Ajmal Omar Shinwari as spokesman for […]

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani congratulated Iran’s President-elect Seyyed Ebrahim Raisi on his victory in Iran’s presidential elections last week and told Raisi he hoped relations would further expand under his leadership. The Presidential Palace said in a statement on Tuesday Ghani and Raisi had a telephonic conversation. “Afghanistan and Iran are two neighboring and brotherly countries, and I hope that […]

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan has said his country is ready to be a partner for peace in Afghanistan with the United States but that it will not host US military bases. In an opinion article for the Washington Post, Khan said: “Our countries have the same interest in that long-suffering country: a political settlement, stability, economic development and the […]

UN Human Rights chief Michelle Bachelet has voiced her concern over the sharp increase in violence and harm to civilians in Afghanistan. In a statement issued after the 47th session of the UN Human Rights Council, Bachelet said the recent attack on “a school in a Hazara area of Kabul – which killed 85 children, most of them girls – […]

A senior Qatari official said Indian officials made a “quiet visit” to Doha where they met with the Taliban’s political leadership. India Today reported Tuesday that speaking at a virtual event, ‘Looking Towards Peace in Afghanistan after the US-NATO Withdrawal’, organised by Arab Center Washington DC, Qatar’s Special Envoy of the State of Qatar for Counterterrorism and Mediation of Conflict […]

The Ministry of Defense (MoD) said Tuesday that a number of Taliban infiltrators were arrested in northern Kunduz province amid a sharp increase in Taliban attacks across the country. The MoD said in a statement that the infiltrators – under the guise of tribal elders – had spoken to the Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF) to hand over a security […]

On 16 June 2021, Russian president Vladimir Putin met with US President Joe Biden to discuss the tense bilateral relationship. Despite differences in Russia’s specific bilateral relations with NATO members such as Germany over economic ties and the gas pipeline, or Turkey-Russia strategic relations, to name two examples, Biden presumably spoke as the senior partner of the Atlantic alliance. Judging […]