Attendees at Afghanistan’s most important national gathering have urged ceasefire between the government and the Taliban militant group as a foretaste to a potential peace deal.

A United Nations Security Council committee has designated the head of the Pakistan-based militant organization Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) as a global terrorist after China withdrew its long-held objections to the designation.

A decision by U.S. military officials in Afghanistan to stop tracking the amount of territory controlled by the Taliban is sparking an increasingly tense showdown with the watchdog overseeing reconstruction efforts.

Russia has started assembling the six Su-30SM fighters that will be delivered to Myanmar under a 2018 bilateral contract, Myanmar Armed Forces Commander-in-Chief Min Aung Hlaing told Sputnik.

Pakistan’s navy has been developing multiple types of missiles designed to target naval and other hostile marine vessels and had conducted live weapons tests on numerous occasions since 2016.

Pakistan says it is “highly dismayed” at the recent surge in hostilities in Afghanistan “from all sides,” warning it would harm ongoing efforts to bring peace to the war-ravaged neighboring country.

Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, is bracing for a peace jirga – a traditional gathering of elders and prominent Afghans – with heightened security next week, as nearly 3,000 delegates from across the country stream into the city.

Russia, the United States and China will this week try to press Afghanistan’s Taliban insurgents to hold talks with Afghan politicians and civilians, an important step in a process aimed at ending the Afghan war.

KABUL: Afghan Taliban insurgents are battling fighters loyal to Daesh over control of territory in eastern Afghanistan in some of the heaviest clashes over the past year between the rival militants, officials said on Wednesday.

Bottom Line Up Front: The U.S. and the Taliban will soon resume talks in Doha, Qatar, as the peace process moves forward but without significant input from the Afghan government. Peace talks are primarily centered around two issues: a Taliban pledge not to harbor international terrorist groups and the full withdrawal of foreign troops. The Taliban is as strong, if […]