The pact, announced Sunday, defused a crisis that had paralyzed several cities, but it also highlighted the government’s struggle to assert itself against religious extremists. Pakistan averted a political showdown on Monday as officials reopened a key national highway that supporters of a militant Islamist group had occupied for days, following a secret pact between the government and the group. […]

Two suicide blasts and gunfire erupted Tuesday at the main military hospital in the Afghan capital, in an attack that left at least 20 people dead and dozens more injured, according to witnesses, a doctor and a Taliban official. Official Taliban statements put the death toll much lower. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said seven civilians and three of the group’s […]

Over the last three decades we have watched with anxiety the use of indiscriminate violence as a means to create terror among the masses or fear to achieve a religious or political aim. It is used in this regard primarily to refer to violence during peace time or in war against non-combatants -mostly civilians and neutral military personnel. The term […]

Afghanistan’s Taliban government is pressing for the release of billions of dollars of central bank reserves as the drought-stricken nation faces a cash crunch, mass starvation and a new migration crisis. Afghanistan parked billions of dollars in assets overseas with the U.S. Federal Reserve and other central banks in Europe, but that money has been frozen since the Islamist Taliban […]

Every few days, bodies are dumped on the outskirts of the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad. Some have been shot or hanged, some beheaded. Many have handwritten notes stuffed into their pockets, accusing them of being members of Afghanistan’s branch of the Islamic State. No-one claims responsibility for the gruesome, extra-judicial killings, but the Taliban are widely assumed to be […]

Taliban diplomats have started work in the Afghan Embassy in Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad, and at Afghan consulates in other Pakistani cities, two Taliban officials and two Afghan diplomats told VOA Thursday. VOA has obtained copies of official Taliban notifications sent to the Afghan Embassy in Islamabad. Pakistani officials say they have allowed the deployments even though Pakistan has not yet […]

Taliban diplomats have started work in the Afghan Embassy in Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad, and at Afghan consulates in other Pakistani cities, two Taliban officials and two Afghan diplomats told VOA Thursday. VOA has obtained copies of official Taliban notifications sent to the Afghan Embassy in Islamabad. Pakistani officials say they have allowed the deployments even though Pakistan has not yet […]

Turkmen officials are due to travel to Kabul this week to discuss the development of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) pipeline, Reuters reported. The pipeline, which would carry 33bn m3/year of gas from Turkmenistan’s Galkynysh field to southeast Asia, was first discussed in the 1990s. But the project has struggled to secure financing, in part because of security concerns over the section […]

The United States’ Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, John Kerry, spoke with Prime Minister Imran Khan in Riyadh yesterday on the sidelines of the “Middle East Green Initiative (MGI)” Summit. In the regional context, the Imran Khan underscored the importance of a peaceful and stable Afghanistan for Pakistan and the region. Pakistan’s Prime Minister stressed the need for the international […]

Afghanistan’s acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi attended a meeting in Doha on Wednesday evening with representatives and ambassadors of 14 countries to discuss the relationship between the new Afghan government and the international community. During the meeting Muttaqi called on the international community to urge the United States to release Afghanistan’s national reserves. Muttaqi said that for the first […]