With a burgeoning alliance between the Afghan Taliban and the TTP, Pakistan faces a major insurgency challenge in 2022. In 2021, the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) insurgency escalated its challenge against Pakistan. Operating from bases in Afghanistan, and with a growing presence inside Pakistan, the group mounted an increasing number of attacks against Pakistani security forces — as well as against […]

A bomb blast ripped through a crowded market in eastern Pakistan on Thursday (January 20), killing three people and wounding over 20, police said, Reuters reported. A police spokesman, Arif Rana, told Reuters it was a bomb, saying a time device rigged to a motorcycle exploded outside a shop in the market. A nine-year-old boy is among the three dead, […]

With the withdrawal of the United States and the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan, regional developments will maximize the interests of Pakistan and China and the natural process of a new order will move toward the influential regional coalition of Iran, Turkey, Iraq, and Syria with more contribution from Pakistan and China. Pakistan has strategically guided developments in order to consolidate […]

External interference in Afghanistan has reappeared much sooner than one would have expected after the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan in August. In a familiar pattern, the rumour mill has become active. The Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova hit out today at the rumours being planted by American sources insinuating that Moscow is supplying arms to the so-called National Resistance […]

Militants attacked an army post Friday in Pakistan’s restive northwest, bordering Afghanistan, triggering an intense shootout that killed a soldier, the military said. The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack. According to a military statement, the predawn attack took place in Bannu, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. It said troops returned fire, but it was unclear if the […]

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin discussed Afghanistan over the phone on Monday and both agreed that a peaceful and stable Afghanistan was key to regional stability. According to a press release issued by Imran Khan’s office, the prime minister told Putin “that a peaceful and stable Afghanistan was pivotal for regional stability. Afghanistan was facing […]

Zabihullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) has politely turned down Pakistan’s offer to send manpower to Afghanistan, stating there are enough educated young people in the country. In an audiotaped interview with the BBC on Saturday, Mujahid thanked Pakistan but said the IEA did not need outside labor. “There are enough educated young people to […]

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan said Friday his country is committed to providing support to Afghanistan in a bid to avert a humanitarian crisis. Addressing the 3rd Apex Committee meeting on Afghanistan, attended by top Pakistani officials, Khan ordered them to explore bilateral cooperation with Afghanistan and to do what they can to avert a crisis. Officials attending the meeting […]

Government jobs are given as patronage to ex-fighters and exiles living quietly in Pakistan. But not all possess the technical skills required for the job. It was 20 years ago when the jihadi, a defense ministry official in the Taliban’s first government, fled Afghanistan as U.S. troops swept into the country. He settled in southwestern Pakistan with other Afghans, bought […]

“… Which country’s army operates housing schemes? The army’s job is to protect the country’s borders; not to participate in commercial activities. — Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar, 2019 If one goes by what’s written on the top-left hand side of its entrance, then it’s clear that the imposing building on the banks of Islamabad’s Rawal Lake is […]