With a burgeoning alliance between the Afghan Taliban and the TTP, Pakistan faces a major insurgency challenge in 2022. In 2021, the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) insurgency escalated its challenge against Pakistan. Operating from bases in Afghanistan, and with a growing presence inside Pakistan, the group mounted an increasing number of attacks against Pakistani security forces — as well as against […]

Job losses in Afghanistan following the change in administration in August 2021 totaled more than half a million in the third quarter and may reach 900,000 by mid-2022, according to new estimates released by the International Labour Organization (ILO). According to the ILO, the estimated 14% loss by mid-2022 reflects workers pushed out of employment due to the change in […]

A bomb blast ripped through a crowded market in eastern Pakistan on Thursday (January 20), killing three people and wounding over 20, police said, Reuters reported. A police spokesman, Arif Rana, told Reuters it was a bomb, saying a time device rigged to a motorcycle exploded outside a shop in the market. A nine-year-old boy is among the three dead, […]

Foreign Ministry of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) on Thursday, announced that European Union officially reopened its diplomatic office in Kabul. Spokesman of the Ministry Abdul Qahar Balkhi on the Twitter post said that the EU’s diplomatic office has officially resumed its operations in Afghanistan. “Following consecutive meetings and reaching an understanding with EU representatives, the European Union officially […]

Turkey and Qatar have reached agreement on ensuring security at Kabul’s main airport should they be awarded the mission amid ongoing talks with the Islamic Emirate (IE) government, Turkish diplomatic sources said on Thursday, Reuters reported. Kabul’s international airport is landlocked Afghanistan’s main air link to the world. Following the August takeover of Afghanistan by the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan […]

The outlawed Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility Tuesday for a rare overnight attack in Islamabad that killed a police officer and wounded two others. Police officials said two gunmen riding a motorcycle opened fire on a security checkpoint near one of the city’s busy markets late on Monday. They say the ensuing shootout killed both the assailants. “The gunfire by terrorists […]

In Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, aid groups are overwhelmed by the starving. More than half the population, the United Nations has warned, won’t get enough to eat this winter. The biggest problem isn’t a lack of food. Rather, it’s the disappearance of what had been the lifeblood of the Afghan economy — Western cash. As fears of a humanitarian disaster mount, the […]

Five months after the Taliban seized Kabul, Afghanistan’s new rulers are stepping up their campaign to gain control of the country’s embassies abroad, most of which continue to be run by diplomats appointed by the former, U.S.-backed government. No foreign capital has formally recognized the Taliban. And nearly all of the country’s 65 diplomatic missions still fly the flag of […]

Afghanistan Prime Minister Mullah Mohammad Hassan Akhund has reiterated calls by the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) for the new Afghan government to be recognized by the international community. Addressing the one-day “Afghanistan Economic Conference” on Wednesday in Kabul, Akhund stated that Islamic countries should take the lead in recognizing the IEA. He added that the IEA has been able […]

Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, Deputy Prime Minister of Afghanistan, said Tuesday that “based on Sharia principles”, education opportunities should be provided for both men and women in the country. In a meeting with Afghan university lecturers, Baradar stated that higher education is critical in terms of meeting the needs to develop the country. He noted the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan […]