By unilaterally calling-off the month-long ceasefire and killing two police men in Tank district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa just to drive home this message, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan [TTP] has made it clear to Islamabad that it has no appetite for dialogue. Though expected all along, this development has nevertheless come as a serious setback for Prime Minister Imran Khan who’s already grappling […]

Groups such as Al-Qaeda and Daesh will take advantage of the Afghan crisis, Pakistan foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi cautioned on Friday ahead of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation’s special session in Islamabad. The 17th Extraordinary Session of the OIC’s Council of Foreign Ministers was called by Saudi Arabia and will be hosted by Islamabad on Dec. 19. The meeting’s […]

The Chinese military has been holding more live-fire drills in the contested South China Sea this week, state media reported, while accusing the United States of “saber-rattling and making provocations.” The military exercises come as Washington has amplified its concerns about China’s “aggressive actions.” This week the top U.S. diplomat vowed to ensure freedom of navigation in the disputed waterway. […]

A drone strike hit a house just inside Afghanistan’s border with Pakistan, apparently targeting a senior member of the Pakistani Taliban, but the missile failed to explode, Reuters quoting Pakistani Taliban sources said on Thursday. One of the Pakistani Taliban officials said the drone fired a missile at a hujra, or guesthouse on the compound of Maulvi Faqir Mohammad, a […]

China’s embassy in Afghanistan warned its companies and citizens on Friday not to “blindly” visit the country to inspect mineral resources, after reports of foreigners being detained without exploration permits, Reuters reported. According to the report Afghanistan’s Ministry of Mines and Petroleum has “extremely strict” standards for issuing permits for prospecting for minerals, the embassy said, adding that companies and […]

Afghanistan’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations announced late Thursday night that Naseer Ahmad Faiq has taken over the leadership of Afghanistan’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations, replacing Ghulam Mohammad Isaczai. Afghanistan’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations wrote in an official tweet that Faiq is in charge of all activities of Afghanistan’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations. […]

Islamabad: Pakistan has formulated its first policy to prevent and counter violent extremism. Pakistan’s National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA) has drafted the national counter violent extremism policy (NCVEP 2021). The authority’s national coordinator Mehr Khaliq Dad Lak has submitted the policy draft to Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed for approval. NACTA officials described the draft as “a major national policy […]

A global human rights group is accusing all parties to the conflict in Afghanistan of inflicting “extensive” casualties on civilians before the U.S.-backed government in Kabul collapsed and the Islamist Taliban took power last August. The London-based Amnesty International said Wednesday in a new report that the months leading up to the fall of Kabul were marked by “repeated war […]

Sara-e- Shahzadah, Afghanistan’s largest currency exchange market, announced early Thursday that the Afghani had gained some traction and climbed to 95 AFN against the US dollar overnight. This comes after the AFN was trading at 105 Afghanis to the dollar at close of business on Wednesday. Meanwhile, the Afghanistan Central Bank, Da Afghanistan Bank, has said the fourth package of […]

Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Wednesday warned that the world’s inaction on Afghanistan would lead to a massive humanitarian crisis and that any ensuing chaos in the country would strengthen terrorist organizations. Qureshi said in a statement that if the situation deteriorates in Afghanistan, it would not only affect Pakistan, but also other countries in the region and […]