The bilateral relationship between Afghanistan and Pakistan has always been under duress. A major point of contention between the two neighbours is the status of a colonial legacy—the Durand line, cutting through the Pashtun-dominated tribal areas. In an already precarious environment, with the ascendancy of the Taliban, the tempo of tensions flared up in the last few weeks of 2021. […]

A new UN report finds that more than 100 former Afghan government and coalition members have been killed since the Taliban takeover. More than 100 former members of the Afghan government, its security forces and those who worked with international troops have been killed since the Taliban took over the country in August, according to a report by the United […]

Moscow views the idea of Russia’s participation in the TAPI (Turkmenistan – Afghanistan – Pakistan – India) gas pipeline project as “politically attractive,” special envoy of the Russian President Zamir Kabulov told TASS in an interview. “Such perspective appears politically attractive. The matters of supporting security for this project earlier considered to be the most challenging have lost their acuteness […]

The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan’s (IEA) Ministry of Public Health has announced that Dr Malalai Faizi has been appointed director of Malalai Maternity Hospital in Kabul. While the heads of maternity hospitals in Afghanistan have always been women, Faizi is the first high-ranking female to be appointed to a public position in the past six months. The appointment of a […]

Russia’s state news agency TASS reported Tuesday that the next extended Troika meeting on Afghanistan will be held by the end of February and will likely take place in Kabul. Russian Special Presidential Envoy for Afghanistan Zamir Kabulov told TASS that the meeting will probably be held in Kabul and that the countries participating in the extended Troika on Afghanistan […]

Dozens of people gathered outside a bakery in central Kabul on Monday in the hope of receiving a free loaf of bread. Hamena, a 14-year-old girl from Kunduz province, said it has been tough to make ends meet with her father working as a market porter and her mother sick at home, Reuters reported. “So I come here to get […]

Very recently, the National Security Policy (NSP) was unveiled by the Imran Khan-led government of Pakistan. The selective unveiling of the policy is significant for quite a few reasons. One, this is the first time that the country has come up with something that could be described as close to some sort of security doctrine. Second, this is a country […]

Walking down the corridors of the Indian Council of World Affairs (ICWA) library in the 1980s, one could barely escape meeting scholars with intellectual acumen moving around. As a novice in foreign affairs, I too had unintended encounters with many of them. The Sapru House (ICWA building) in New Delhi was already known as an international affairs public sphere, with […]

Militants attacked a security post in a remote area of southwest Pakistan, triggering a firefight that killed 10 soldiers and an assailant, the military said Thursday. The predawn attack happened Wednesday in Kech, a town in Baluchistan province, according to a statement released by the military. It said the troops returned fire, killing one attacker. No group or individual claimed […]

Lahore, Jan 27 (PTI) Inciting public to raise funds for ‘Jihad’ (holy war) is not allowed to individuals or any organisation in Pakistan and is considered as treason, the Lahore High Court has ruled as it dismissed appeals of two terrorists convicted for raising funds for a proscribed terror outfit. The court ruling came on Wednesday on the appeals of […]