Meezan Bank (MEBL) has reported its highest ever quarterly profit of Rs8.8 billion (EPS: Rs5.4) 4Q2021, up 115%YoY. The earnings remained higher than industry expectation due to strong growth in Net spread earned and other income. Net spread earned during 4Q2021 was reported at Rs20.4 billion, up 35%YoY led by strong deposit growth and increasing low cost deposits. On QoQ […]

The head of Britain’s domestic intelligence service said that Afghanistan is becoming a hotbed for terrorism. A British man was one of two suspected ISIS recruits caught while trying to enter Afghanistan this month. Ken McCallum, the director general of MI5, said the service has evidence of terrorist groups regrouping in Afghanistan and recruits are travelling to join them. In […]

The Taliban are creating a “grand army” for Afghanistan that will include officers and troops who served the old regime, the official tasked with overseeing the military’s transformation said Monday. Latifullah Hakimi, head of the Taliban’s Ranks Clearance Commission, also told a news conference they had repaired half the 81 helicopters and planes supposedly rendered unserviceable by US-led forces during […]

A recent UN report and other worrying signs point to a likely surge in both an al-Qaeda and Islamic State presence in Afghanistan in the six months since the Taliban has been in power. The rented home where the now-defunct Iraqi Islamic State (IS) leader known as Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Quraishi was either blown up or blew himself up during […]

The United Nations has removed former Afghan President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani from the list of heads of state. The list, published on the official website of the United Nations, also removes the name of Ghani’s wife, Rula Ghani, as Afghanistan’s first lady. However, the post of President of Afghanistan is listed as “President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan”. Similarly, […]

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan will fly to Moscow this week to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin, Islamabad confirmed on Monday – the first such trip by a Pakistani leader in two decades. The two-day visit, starting on Wednesday, was planned before the current crisis over Ukraine. “During the Summit meeting, the two leaders will review the entire array of […]

Amnesty International said Tuesday the U.S. decision to divert half of Afghanistan’s money to victims of 9/11 attacks was “unjust” and a “mistake” and called on the U.S. administration to reverse their decision. In a statement issued by the organization, Amnesty International said the money does not belong to the victims of the September 11 attacks on the United States. […]

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has expressed concern that the Afghan people’s need for humanitarian assistance has increased by 30 percent. The committee wrote on its Twitter page on Tuesday that currently 24.4 million people across Afghanistan are in need of humanitarian assistance. According to the United Nations, more than half of Afghanistan’s population is facing a […]

During a meeting with the Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said that his neighbors should help form an inclusive government in Afghanistan, otherwise the country will become insecure. Raisi who was on a visit to Qatar, said at a joint press conference with Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani that in […]

The World Bank’s management has signed off on a proposal that would repurpose $600 million of the just over $1 billion left in a frozen trust fund to benefit Afghan education, families and communities, a source familiar with the plan told Reuters. The board of the World Bank is due to discuss the proposal on March 1, with a final […]