The 20th Party Congress has closed, with Xi Jinping’s grip on power even tighter than expected. After years of speculation, the 20th Party Congress has closed, and the new Central Committee elected the members of the Politburo Standing Committee, the men who will rule China for the next five years. Xi Jinping, of course, is the ultimate ruler; he is […]

A police vehicle stopped in a shopping area in the Chah-Baba neighbourhood of Mazar-e-Sharif on March 3. Five Taliban gunmen got out of the car and dropped two bodies wrapped in black cloth on the road. “Control your women or else this will be their fate,” the commander told bystanders. Mohammad was an eyewitness. “They dumped the bodies near a […]

The dialogue format on Afghanistan, known as the extended Troika, may be reformed into a ‘five’, with India and Iran participating instead of the US, Russian Security Council Deputy Secretary Alexander Venediktov told state news agency TASS. He said in the past the Russian Foreign Affairs Ministry held talks with Washington and Afghanistan “in the bilateral format as well as […]

Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai, deputy foreign minister of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, on Tuesday called on countries to play an active role in ensuring peace and security in Afghanistan, and in the development of its economy. Stanikzai made the remarks during a ceremony to inaugurate a new power supply network at Balkh airport. “As Afghans played a key role […]

Cash-reliant Afghanistan is set to get new banknotes, that will be printed in Europe, as those in circulation crumble and disintegrate, the US State Department’s Spokesman Ned Price confirmed Wednesday. Price said at a press conference in Washington that two transactions to pay to print Afghani banknotes has been facilitated by the US. “These two transactions have been underway for […]