Members of the United Nations Security Council remained divided Monday over whether to exempt some of Afghanistan’s Taliban officials from a travel ban, diplomatic sources said. Under a 2011 Security Council resolution, 135 Taliban leaders are subject to a sanctions regime that includes asset freezes and travel bans. Thirteen of them benefited from an exemption from the travel ban, renewed […]

Imran Khan, Pakistan’s former prime minister, has been charged under the country’s anti-terrorism act, the latest chapter in a tense struggle for power with Pakistan’s current government since his ouster. Sunday’s move came a day after Khan addressed a rally and criticized top police officials and a judge for the arrest of his chief of staff. Police said in a […]

A roadside bombing on Friday killed two policemen in a former militant stronghold in northwestern Pakistan, police said. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack in Bajur, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province that borders Afghanistan. The district’s police chief, Abdus Samad Khan, said the bomb was remotely detonated. A search for perpetrators was underway, he added. Bajur has […]

U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration will press ahead with talks on releasing billions of dollars in Afghanistan’s foreign-held assets despite the late al Qaeda leader’s presence in Kabul and foot-dragging by the Taliban and Afghan central bank, according to three sources with knowledge of the situation. The decision to pursue the initiative to help stabilize Afghanistan’s collapsed economy underscores growing […]

The risk of a crisis erupting between the U.S. and China because of a visit to Taiwan by the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, is high enough to warrant postponing – if not outright cancelling – the trip. Given the perceived costs of backing down in the face of Beijing’s threats, however, the odds of the […]