The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) imposed fresh restrictions on people carrying foreign currency out of Afghanistan, in a rare directive from the prime minister’s office. The restrictions were imposed after a report published in Bloomberg stated that millions of dollars were being smuggled into the country each day from Pakistan. Tuesday’s order from Mullah Mohammad Hassan’s office spelled out […]

Just 20 days before [Russia’s invasion of Ukraine]…, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping signed a statement that said their cooperation had “no limits… no forbidden zones.” “Russia and China are making common cause to better defend their respective interests and their authoritarian systems from Western pressure,” said Daniel Russel, a former Obama administration official handling Asia […]

Karachi police on Tuesday claimed to have arrested two alleged terrorists of a banned outfit from the site Superhighway. As per police, two ‘terrorists’ associated with an outlawed outfit were arrested during an action at Superhighway in which officials also recovered four hand grenades and two Kalashnikovs The arrested were identified as Ahmedullah alias Bashir and Naeemtullah. The police after […]

Millions of dollars are being smuggled into Afghanistan from Pakistan every day, providing some support for the squeezed economy after the US and Europe denied the Taliban regime access to billions in foreign reserves. For Islamabad, the outflows are exacerbating a rapidly developing economic crisis. Traders and smugglers are bringing as much as $5 million across the border daily, according […]

On January 10, 2023, a video was posted to the RTA Pashto channel on YouTube in which the head of a Muslim scholars’ delegation visiting the Taliban government in Afghanistan, Egyptian Islamist scholar Dr. Mohamed Al-Sagheer said that after “defeating” the U.S., the Taliban has effectively prevented the cultivation of drugs in Afghanistan. He said that the American “occupation” had […]

A soldier was killed and seven others were injured in a landmine explosion and subsequent attack by armed militants in the Jiwani area of Pakistan’s Gwadar district, Dawn newspaper reported. Coast Guard personnel were travelling in their vehicle when it hit a landmine in the Duran area on Saturday, according to officials. Post the blast, the vehicle was ambushed by […]

Pakistani police killed two commanders from a militant group in the country’s northwest, a local officer said Saturday. Pakistan has increased its operations against militants after a surge in violence by the Pakistani Taliban, or TTP, particularly in the northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. The TTP ended its cease-fire with the government in November, ordering its fighters to carry out attacks […]

A bomb blast in southwestern Pakistan Sunday reportedly killed at least one soldier and injured 12 people, including civilians. The attack targeted a military vehicle at the entrance to a security checkpoint in a highly guarded central part of Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan province, residents and officials said. Neither provincial police nor the military’s media wing shared any details […]

Bilal al-Sudani’s financing of the ISIS branch in Afghanistan that killed 13 U.S. troops in 2021 elevated him on U.S. kill-or-capture lists. Bilal al-Sudani was no stranger to American counterterrorism officials. Before joining the Islamic State affiliate in Somalia, Mr. al-Sudani was subjected to punitive sanctions by the U.S. Treasury Department in 2012 for his involvement with Al Shabab, Al […]

Da Afghanistan Bank (DAB) has announced that it will auction $17 million on Wednesday as part of the efforts to stabilize the value of the Afghan currency against foreign currencies. In a series of tweets on Monday, the Central Bank of Afghanistan asked qualified private banks and exchange companies to participate in the auction. The winners of the auction are […]