On September 4, 2022, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that the Iran-backed Afghan Shi’ite militia, the Fatemiyoun Brigade, had begun training its fighters to operate drones at the airport at Palmyra in Syria.[1] The Syrian opposition website also noted that officials from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) were training the militia. For more than a decade, Iran […]

US special envoy for Afghanistan, Thomas West, said on Tuesday he met with Abdullah Abdullah, the former head of Afghanistan’s reconciliation council, in India and discussed the “urgent need” for national political dialogue among Afghans. West said on Twitter that there is consensus among the international community on the need for political dialogue among Afghans. “There is consensus in int’l […]

A number of civilians were wounded in an explosion in a money exchange market on Tuesday in Nangarhar province. The blast occurred in District 1 of Jalalabad city, center of Nangarhar province at 14:00 pm local time at a money exchange market, the provincial governor’s media office said. According to the office at least six people were wounded in the […]

One person was killed on Friday in a suicide bomb attack near the Kabul office of the Hezb-e-Islami party, former Afghan Prime Minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, said, the same day as an apparent failed assassination attempt at the Pakistan Embassy. Multiple attackers were killed and several guards injured in the suicide bomb attack, according to three Hezb-e-Islami sources and one source […]

Pakistan warned Thursday that cross-border terrorism emanating from Afghanistan “is both alarming and dangerous” for regional peace, calling on the neighboring country’s ruling Taliban to honor their anti-terror pledges. Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah issued the warning amid a new wave of deadly terrorist attacks in Pakistan that has claimed the lives of hundreds of people, mostly security forces.

The Islamist Taliban government has defended banning FM radio broadcasts from two U.S.-funded news media, including the Voice of America, in Afghanistan, alleging they were offending local laws. The ban on VOA and Azadi Radio, an Afghan extension of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, or RFE/RL, went into effect Thursday, a day after the Taliban’s ministry of information and culture said […]

The United States is committed to using its full set of counterterrorism tools to counter the threat posed by terrorist groups operating in Afghanistan, including al-Qa’ida in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) and Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP), as part of our relentless efforts to ensure that terrorists do not use Afghanistan as a platform for international terrorism. Yesterday, the Department of […]

Tensions between Islamabad and Kabul continue to rise. While Pakistan has made efforts to smooth over the growing rift, reopening a key border crossing at Spin Boldak-Chaman closed following cross-border gunfire that killed a Pakistani security guard on Nov. 13 and sending its minister of state for foreign affairs on an official visit to the Afghan capital at the end of […]

Pakistan has handed over medicines assistance for three hospitals built by the country in Afghanistan. The handover ceremony on Friday was attended by Afghan Public Health Minister Qalandar Ibad and his Pakistani counterpart Abdul Qadir Patel. The first consignment is leaving for Jinnah Hospital, Kabul. Second will be dispatched to Amanullah Logari Hospital in Logar and third to Nishtar Kidney […]

An explosion happened near a mosque in Kabul where Hizb-e-Islami leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar was delivering Friday sermon, killing one of his guards and wounding two others, his office said. Humayon Jarir, a senior member of Hizb-e-Islami, told Ariana News that two burqa-clad attackers were spotted and killed by the guards while trying to enter the mosque in Dar-ul-Aman area where […]