Frequent and violent border clashes have created political tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan. This may surprise observers, since Afghanistan is being ruled by the Afghan Taliban, long supported by Pakistan’s security establishment. Recent incidents illustrate, however, that while the interests of Pakistan and its clients in Kabul may often converge, they are hardly identical. Divergent political ideologies, national histories, and […]

Acting Minister of Interior Sarajuddin Haqqani met with EU special envoy for Afghanistan on Wednesday in Kabul and urged the foreign community not to support any armed opposition group in the country. Haqqani also said that the door to dialogue is open to all political opponents and that the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) is committed under the Doha agreement […]

US Ambassador to Tajikistan John Mark Pommersheim said in Dushanbe this week that Washington does not plan to hand back the Afghan air force planes and helicopters flown to Tajikistan by Afghan pilots fleeing the country in August last year. Addressing a press conference in Dushanbe on Tuesday, Pommersheim said:“These aircraft will not be handed over to the Taliban (IEA) […]

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has warned that the continued expansion of Daesh and Al-Qaeda in Africa and resurgent terrorism in Afghanistan pose a growing threat to global peace and security. Addressing a UN-backed counter-terrorism meeting in Malaga, Spain, this week he said: “Responses to terrorism must be anchored in the rule of law, human rights, and gender equality to […]

The United States has the capability of conducting strike operations in Afghanistan if a threat emanates from the country’s territory, Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley said on Wednesday. In a prepared testimony for the House Appropriations Committee, Milley said: “We do maintain surveillance (in Afghanistan) and I won’t go into the details of how or […]

On May 5, unidentified gunmen killed two former Afghan National Army soldiers, a father and his son, in the Dehrawood District of Urozgan Province. On May 1, 2022, Taliban fighters killed a former ‘commander’ of the National Security Directorate (NDS), Mohammad Asif Sultani, in the Pul-e-Rangina area in Police District (PD) 6 of Herat city, Herat Province. April 17, 2022, […]

Tehran has granted Iranian citizenship to 22 Afghan investors who successfully went through the legal process. The Afghan entrepreneurs received Iranian nationality at a ceremony in Tehran on Tuesday, Mehr News Agency reported. Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Alireza Bikdeli, addressing the ceremony, referred to religious, cultural and historical commonalities between Iran and its neighbors. The Ministry of Interior in Tehran […]

The Russian foreign minister has hit out at the West for blocking the assets of Afghanistan’s central bank. The Western countries were not ready to allocate the frozen funds for the needs of the Afghans, Sergey Lavrov alleged. He slammed as a theft EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell’s suggestion to seize Russian assets and hand them over to Ukraine. […]

On the morning of April 1, seven children were playing in the lush wheat fields of Afghanistan’s Marjah district, in the southern Helmand province, by tossing around a metal object. Moments later, it exploded. The blast claimed five of their lives, including the youngest in the group, a 5-year-old boy. “My daughter has not only lost her three sons, but […]

Terrorist groups within Afghanistan are still about a year away from being able to attack targets in western countries, but remain a significant concern for U.S. military planners, intelligence officials told lawmakers on Tuesday. Last fall, Defense Department officials said that groups like al-Qaida and Islamic State Khorasan Province (known as ISIS-K) could strike at the United States within six […]