Pakistan’s interior minister said Sunday that the families of Afghanistan’s Taliban live in his country, including in areas around the capital, Islamabad, and that members of the insurgent group receive medical treatment in local hospitals. The admission by Sheikh Rashid Ahmed came during an interview aired by a privately-owned Pakistani television channel, Geo News. This is a significant departure from […]

In an interview released on Friday, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan declared that if the Taliban takes over Afghanistan by force, Pakistan would not intervene militarily, Arab News reported. Imran Khan spoke with New York Times about Pakistan’s future plans in the context of US troops’ withdrawal from Afghanistan by 11th September. Imran Khan responded to the question of what […]

The United States, which has prosecuted a war against Afghanistan since October 2001, has promised to withdraw its combat troops by September 11, 2021. This war has failed to attain any of the gains that were promised after 20 years of fighting: neither has it resulted in the actual fragmentation of terrorist groups nor has it led to the destruction […]

The Biden administration is “delusional” if it thinks the Taliban have broken or will break from what is left of the al Qaeda terrorist network in Afghanistan, says a former top Pakistani diplomat in Washington. Husain Haqqani, who served as Islamabad’s ambassador to the U.S. a decade ago and is now a senior fellow with the Hudson Institute, said the […]

Pakistan’s Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid has said Islamabad hopes the Afghan Taliban will prevent groups such as TTP from carrying out cross-border attacks against Pakistan. Speaking to the Express Tribune, Rashid said: “Prime Minister Imran Khan has categorically said that we [Pakistan] will not give any bases to the United States to use against Afghanistan.” “…But we also expect from […]

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan has said his country is ready to be a partner for peace in Afghanistan with the United States but that it will not host US military bases. In an opinion article for the Washington Post, Khan said: “Our countries have the same interest in that long-suffering country: a political settlement, stability, economic development and the […]

On June 14, 2021, Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi spoke at the inaugural Pakistan-Afghanistan Bilateral Dialogue in Islamabad. His tone was mildly aggressive. Talking about USA’s pullout from Afghanistan, Qureshi said: “If the objective of going to Washington is starting a new blame game and holding Pakistan responsible for all the ills and the lack of progress in the […]

Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said the only way forward toward peace in Afghanistan is through reconciliation, coexistence and talks among Afghans, and he reiterated that Islamabad’s approach toward its neighbor has changed and it will favor a future arrangement that is acceptable for all Afghans. Talking to TOLOnews in an exclusive interview at his office in Islamabad last […]

The US is running out of options as it looks to secure strike capability against terrorist groups after the Afghan withdrawal. On May 2, officers of the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) visited Nasirabad, a dusty town in the western Balochistan province that borders Afghanistan and Iran. It was part of a scouting mission to pinpoint a location for constructing a […]

US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan confirmed on Monday that the United States had discussions with Pakistan in the military, intelligence and diplomatic channels to make sure that Afghanistan never again becomes a base from which terrorist groups would not attack the US – but he did not go into details about it. Sullivan made the remarks at a press […]