Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari claimed on Sunday that Afghanistan had become a safe haven for militant groups threatening regional and global peace, following a deadly attack on a Shia mosque near Islamabad. Zardari made the remarks in a statement issued after a suicide bombing at an imambargah in Islamabad on Friday that killed at least 36 people and wounded […]

Taliban deputy chief minister Abdul Ghani Baradar on Sunday urged countries to respect each other’s sovereignty and avoid policies that fuel regional instability, as tensions between Pakistan and the Taliban remain high. Speaking at a graduation ceremony for Taliban security forces in Kabul, Baradar did not name any country but said long-term political and economic interests required states to respect […]

At least 14 members of Afghanistan’s former security forces were killed between October and December last year, while dozens more were arbitrarily detained or tortured, the United Nations said, highlighting continued human rights violations under Taliban rule despite pledges of a general amnesty. In its latest quarterly report released Sunday, the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said it documented […]

Leaders in Central Asia and the South Caucasus, once considered outliers answerable only to Moscow, are emerging as actors in the political and security dynamics of the core Middle East. Kazakhstan has established itself as a Middle East player by joining the Abraham Accords and Trump’s Board of Peace, and it reportedly will announce this week that it is contributing […]

On February 5, 2026, Pakistan’s military media wing, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) announced that Security Forces (SFs) had concluded Operation Radd-ul-Fitna (Elimination of Discord)-1 in Balochistan, after a series of intelligence-based operations (IBOs) targeting Baloch insurgent networks, killed 216 insurgents. According to the statement, the military began these operations on January 29, 2026, in Panjgur and near Harnai District, targeting […]