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 […]

The foreign ministers of Iran and Russia announced at a joint press conference that they have talked about the enhancement of Tehran-Moscow relations, preparations for a presidential meeting, and the regional developments as in Afghanistan and the Caucasus. Speaking at a press conference with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, held in Moscow on Wednesday, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said […]

If Russia has recently regarded Turkey warily as a result of Turkey’s successful backing of Azerbaijan in its recent war with Armenia over Nagorno Karabakh, being on opposite sides in Syria and Libya, Turkey’s supply of arms to Ukraine, and Turkey’s refusal to recognize Russia’s annexation of Crimea, in the run up to the Putin-Erdogan summit in Sochi on September […]

The Turkish Red Crescent is sending aid to Afghanistan to feed internally displaced people in desperate need of humanitarian aid, the organisation’s head said on Friday. Half a million people have been displaced in Afghanistan in recent months, according to U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi, a number which would grow if health services, schools and the economy break […]

A main bus terminal in Kabul is nowadays crowded as many residents of the city try to find their way out of Afghanistan into some neighboring countries. Bus drivers at the Paitakht Bus Terminal said many families were trying to leave Kabul each day, but many could not afford the bus fare to destinations near the border cities. “There are […]