Two and a half years into their reign, the Afghan Taliban have cemented their ultra-conservative rule across the war-torn country but have yet to turn their fighting force into a traditional military. VOA spoke to analysts who say the former insurgent force does not need to pattern itself after a standard military to effectively counter a mounting security threat from […]

The suspected shooters in the Crocus City attack were Tajiks, which has caused a backlash against labor migrants in Russia. Relations between Tajikistan and Russia, however, are unlikely to be impacted. Responsibility for the March 22 terrorist attack at the Crocus City concert hall near Moscow has been claimed by the Afghanistan-based Islamic State Khorasan (ISIS-K), and most of the […]

Following the March 22, 2024 attack on the Crocus City Hall music venue in Moscow, in which an estimated 137 people were killed and for which the Islamic State (ISIS) claimed responsibility, Hasht-e-Subh, a prominent independent daily in Afghanistan, has warned that support for the Afghan Taliban government has led to the strengthening of a range of jihadi organizations, such […]

Following the March 22, 2024 attack on the Crocus City Hall music venue in Moscow, in which an estimated 137 people were killed and for which the Islamic State (ISIS) claimed responsibility, major Urdu-language and English-language dailies in Pakistan published editorials arguing that both the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA, i.e., the Afghan Taliban) and the Islamic State Khurasan Province […]

On Monday, Pakistan launched airstrikes against several suspected hideouts of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in Afghanistan’s Khost and Paktika provinces. The Afghan Taliban responded by firing on Pakistani positions along the border, according to the Afghan defense ministry. Pakistan’s defense and foreign ministries called the strikes on Afghanistan “retaliatory,” likely referring to the suicide bombing against a Pakistani military post […]

Balochistan’s Information Minister is psychologically pressuring the Taliban with his dramatic tweet about Pakistan invading and annexing the Wakhan Corridor in the event that it experiences another terrorist attack from Afghan-linked groups. Balochistan’s Information Minister Jan Achakzai tweeted on Wednesday per Google Translate that “If another terrorist attack takes place in Pakistan, the Taliban have already been warned. There will […]

Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif said on Sunday that “terrorism” in the South Asian country was being conducted mostly from Afghanistan. This comes a day after militants killed seven Pakistan Army soldiers in Waziristan in the northwest of the country. Pakistan has repeatedly accused the Islamic Emirate of not cracking down on militant groups in Afghanistan. However, the Islamic […]

Pakistan confirmed Monday that its military had carried out “intelligence-based” aerial strikes inside Afghanistan to punish “terrorists” responsible for killing hundreds of civilians and security forces in cross-border raids. A foreign ministry statement said the counterterrorism operation had targeted fugitive commanders allied with Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP, a globally designated terrorist organization operating out of Afghan sanctuaries. Afghanistan’s Taliban government […]

The Muslim holy month of Ramadan, when the faithful fast from dawn to dusk, began at sunrise Tuesday in much of Asia, a day after many Muslims in the Middle East began their fasts. In the Muslim lunar calendar, months begin only when the new moon is sighted, which can lead to variations of a day or two. Middle Eastern […]

Puncturing the euphoria created a by section of experts that Taliban 2.0 would be strikingly different from the Taliban regime of 1996-2001, and that things would change for the better in war-ravaged Afghanistan, since their return to power in Kabul in August 2021, the Taliban has kept civilians, especially women and its adversaries, in agony. On March 8, 2024, the […]