A U.S. delegation led by the special representative for Afghanistan, Thomas West, held talks with senior Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) representatives in Qatar on Monday and Tuesday, the U.S. State Department said in a statement Wednesday. The two sides discussed the international community’s response to the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, and the U.S. delegation pledged to continue to support […]

The Taliban co-founder and now prime minister of Afghanistan Mullah Mohammad Hassan Akhund pledged Saturday that his government will “not interfere” in other countries’ internal affairs, and urged international charities to continue offering aid to the war-ravaged country. Hassan’s audio speech broadcast on state television — his first address to the nation since the Taliban seized power in August — […]

Twenty years after being dislodged from power by a U.S. invasion, the Taliban again took charge of Afghanistan in August, prompting the U.S. and its allies to expedite their planned exit from the country. The strict Islamic fundamentalists — whose previous five-year rule was characterized by the oppression of women and minorities, and the harboring of international terrorists — pledged […]

More than 100 former members of the military and police have been killed or forcibly disappeared by the Taliban since the group came into power, according to an investigation by Human Rights Watch. More than 100 former members of the Afghan security forces in four provinces have been killed by the Taliban or disappeared at their hands in the first […]

The leaders of several Asian countries pledged to provide assistance to Afghanistan during a summit in Turkmenistan on Sunday. The countries, which are part of the 10-member Economic Cooperation Organization that includes Turkey, Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan and six former Soviet nations, called for the removal of trade barriers and the development of new transport corridors across the region, VOA reported. […]

A high-level delegation of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA), led by Foreign Minister Mawlavi Amir Khan Muttaqi, met with Qatar’s Minister of Foreign Affairs of the State of Qatar, late on Saturday. Foreign ministry spokesman Abdul Qahar Balkhi said during the meeting both sides discussed bilateral relations, security, education and the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan, and issues of mutual […]

Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi says peace and stability in Afghanistan is vital for the full operationalization of transit trade corridors of Economic Cooperation Organization member states, Pakistan’s state-run Radio Pakistan. Addressing the 25th Council of Ministers Meeting of ECO on Saturday, he said that more targeted efforts are required to identify and promote trade among ECO states. Qureshi […]

The US democracy is not an ideal model but a broken one, and forcing others to follow the US democracy will only make them detour or lead them astray, said China’s foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian on Friday. Dmitry Peskov, Press Secretary for the President of Russia, said laddt week that Washington is “trying to privatize the term ‘democracy’” and […]

The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) has called on former government officials and members of the political opposition to return to the country. Deputy Foreign Minister Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai, who officially assumed duties on Sunday, said that former officials have the right to live as normal citizens in Afghanistan. “We are in touch with all opposition [members]. We have […]

The Prime Minister of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA), Mullah Mohammad Hassan Akhund, addressed the nation for the first time on Saturday in a half-hour audio message. “The Islamic Emirate is not the cause of unemployment and the poor economic situation in Afghanistan, all these problems are the legacy of the previous government,” he told the nation. In the […]