A drone strike in Kabul last month killed as many as 10 civilians, including seven children, the US military said on Friday, apologizing for what it called a “tragic mistake”. The Pentagon had said the August 29 strike targeted an Islamic State (ISIS-K) suicide bomber who posed an imminent threat to U.S.-led troops at the airport as they completed the […]

Russia, China, Pakistan and other regional states called on the United States on Friday to engage with the Islamic Emirate and fund aid to Afghanistan, though they also urged the Afghan government to yield power to a more inclusive government. The fate of Afghanistan dominated a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, formed 20 years ago by Russia, China and […]

Members of the Islamic Emirate were seen on Monday touring the Mes Aynak copper mine, which two Chinese companies had been developing. China’s Jiangxi Copper Co Ltd said that it and the Metallurgical Corp of China (MCC) were monitoring the situation in Afghanistan and would push forward with the development of the Mes Aynak copper mine when they could. Logar […]

The Uzbekistan government sent a large consignment of humanitarian aid to Afghanistan on Tuesday, through the recently reopened Hairatan border crossing in northern Balkh province. The consignment of 1,300 tons of aid included food, medicine and clothing and was handed over to Afghan officials on arrival in the country. Attending the handing over ceremony was Zabihullah Mujahid and other Islamic […]

Afghanistan’s new acting Foreign Minister Mawlawi Amir Khan Muttaqi has called for sanctions to be lifted against the Islamic Emirate and said urgent global help is needed to help deal with the “major humanitarian crisis” currently gripping the country. Addressing a press conference in Kabul on Tuesday evening, Muttaqi also called on Afghan expats to return home to help develop […]

Following the Taliban’s recent rise to power in Afghanistan, articles in the Arab press, especially the Saudi and Emirati press, claimed that the Taliban shares many similarities with other extremist organizations in the Arab and Muslim world, including Al-Qaeda, ISIS, the Muslim Brotherhood (MB), Hamas and Hizbullah. The articles claimed that the MB’s ideology, shaped by its ideologue Sayyid Qutb […]

No one in the Iranian government was sad to see U.S. and NATO troops leave Afghanistan. In fact, Tehran would prefer to have the Taliban next-door than often-hostile Western powers. But Shiite-majority Iran has also been a target of attacks in the past from the Sunni Islamist Taliban, and it worries that if Afghanistan descends into chaos, it could negatively […]

A number of people have reacted to a report in a Pakistani newspaper that said business deals in Afghanistan should be based on Pakistani rupees, stressing that no one should use the Pakistani currency and those using it should be punished. Daily Jang, a Pakistani newspaper in a report quoted the country’s finance minister, ShawkatTareen as saying that Afghanistan faced […]

Spymasters of some regional countries have exchanged views on the evolving situation in Afghanistan. There has been no word yet from the government on the discussions, Pakistani media reported the meeting took place in Islamabad late on Saturday. Russian, Chinese, Iranian and some Central Asian intelligence heads conferred on issues concerning security on the Durand Line. Dawn quoted an unnamed […]

Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, has been spotted in a video released on the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. Al-Zawahiri was seen in the video on Saturday, multiple media outlets reported, citing the SITE Intelligence Group that monitors the online activity of extremist outfits. Rita Katz, SITE’s director, was quoted as saying that new doubts had emerged that the 60 […]