As many as 4,000-5,000 Afghans have been crossing into Iran daily since the collapse of the former government in August and hundreds of thousands more are expected to arrive in the coming winter, the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) said on Wednesday. The aid group said as many as 300,000 Afghans have crossed the border since the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan […]

Turkish security personnel have arrested nearly 150 Afghan migrants on the border with Iran, media reports said on Saturday. The Afghan citizens were detained on Thursday in the eastern city of Bitlis after the country boosted border security to block entry from Afghanistan via Iran. Local officials said one person was arrested on suspicion of smuggling migrants inside a truck […]

President Joe Biden met with Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday on the sidelines of the G20 Summit and discussed a number of issues including NATO’s mission in Afghanistan and the need for humanitarian assistance. According to a statement issued by the White House, Biden underscored his desire to maintain constructive relations with Turkey, expand areas of cooperation, and […]

Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian said on Wednesday evening after the meeting on Afghanistan that humanitarian and economic support should be provided to Afghanistan so that insurgent groups do not use the current crisis to recruit soldiers. Addressing a press conference after the foreign minister’s meeting on Afghanistan in Tehran, Abdollahian said the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) is […]

On October 20, 2021, pro-Islamic State (ISIS) media outlets disparaged the Taliban for collaborating with the so-called enemies of Islam, including Russia and Iran, to advance its interests at the expense of Muslims and for Sufis to practice their rituals, which are considered polytheistic by Sufis. The content coincided with Russia-hosted talks on Afghanistan involving senior representatives of the Taliban. […]

Iran and Pakistan are talking about the strengthening of their military relations, in the face of the Taliban takeover in neighboring Afghanistan and the region’s geopolitical changes. Iran’s army chief, Maj. Gen. Mohammad Hossein Bagheri, headed a high-level military delegation to Islamabad last week at the invitation of his Pakistani counterpart Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa. Marking a new phase in […]

Washington Shouldn’t Overhype the Threat From Moscow The Russian Ministry of Defense pulled out all the stops for its annual arms expo outside Moscow in late August. For three days, defense ministers and dignitaries from 41 countries, including from the Middle East, were treated to exhibits of cutting-edge technology, live-fire demonstrations, ballerinas pirouetting on tank turrets, and the trailer for […]

A delegation of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) led by acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi left for Turkey on Thursday morning at the official invitation of Turkish FM Ahmed Dawood Oglu, said the IEA’s foreign ministry spokesman Abdul Qahar Balkhi. “A series of decisions will be made on the issues of bilateral relations, trade improvement, humanitarian aid, migrants […]

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday that battle-hardened militants from Iraq and Syria are “actively” entering Afghanistan. “The situation in Afghanistan is not easy,” Putin said during a video conference with security service chiefs of ex-Soviet states, AFP reported. “Militants from Iraq, Syria with experience in military operations are actively being drawn there,” he said. “It is possible that terrorists […]

Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu on Tuesday hinted that he would visit the Afghan capital Kabul with a group of counterparts from friendly countries. “We follow the situation in Afghanistan closely. We are planning to go to Kabul with some other foreign ministers in the upcoming period,” said Çavuşoğlu at a joint news conference with his visiting Indonesian counterpart Retno […]