The Ukraine war has revitalized the silent competition between China and Russia in Central Asia. Despite the steady shift in China’s favor since the Soviet collapse, Russia’s entrenched influence and friendly ties between Beijing and Moscow will prevent open contention. At the recent Commonwealth for Independent States (CIS) summit held on October 14 in Astana, Kazakhstan, Tajik President Emomali Rahmon […]

Executions, stonings and amputations are possible punishments for crimes once more in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. Taliban leader Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada ordered Afghan judges to impose Sharia-law punishments for certain crimes, according to a tweet from Zabihullah Mujahid, Mr. Akhundzada’s spokesman. Mullah Akhundzada has ordered Afghan judges to fully implement sharia law and its punishments, which include mutilations, flogging and executions. The […]

Two decades after fighting in the first big battle of the U.S. war in Afghanistan, a CIA veteran is coming to the aid of former Afghan comrades before the Taliban hunts them down. The desperate pleas come flooding into David Tyson’s cellphone, from a country that has fallen off the American radar. The texts are from Afghans who fought alongside […]

Recently, a Hindi-language newspaper in India published interviews with three Sikhs who had fled Afghanistan after the Taliban took over the country in August 2021. As of late September 2022, there were reportedly only 43 Hindus and Sikhs remaining in Afhganistnan.[1] In recent years, both before and after the Taliban seized power, Sikh places of worship, called gurudwaras, were attacked […]

According to an Urdu-language newspaper, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA, i.e., the Afghan Taliban) has turned down a U.S. offer of $3 billion in exchange for permission to build two airbases in northern Afghanistan. Roznama Ummat, the pro-Taliban Urdu daily, reported that CIA Deputy Director David Cohen and Afghan Taliban intelligence chief Maulvi Abdul Haq Wasiq met in Doha […]

The latest issue “Khurasan Ghag [Voice of Khurasan],” the Pashtu-language magazine published by Al-Azaim Foundation, which is the media arm of the Islamic State’s Khurasan Province (ISIS-K), describes the de facto Afghan Taliban government as “a drama written and directed by CIA and ISI,” and says that “the CIA is leading an ideological war in the Islamic world and wants […]

The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) has welcomed the reopening of the office of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Afghanistan and says it’s a political success for the IEA. At a meeting with the OIC delegation in Kabul on Saturday, Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi said with the reopening of the office, it is hoped that the political, […]

Pakistan has called for “greater and sustained engagement” with the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) to promote the international community’s goals in Afghanistan with respect to human rights, political inclusivity and counter-terrorism, saying those objectives could not be achieved by isolating it. “What could not be realized through force, cannot be achieved through isolation, sanctions or financial coercion,” Aamir Khan, […]

Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev on Friday expressed concern over the situation in Afghanistan, and called for regular dialogue between regional countries to address the issue. Speaking at the 9th summit of Organization of Turkic States (OTS) in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, he voiced concern over the deteriorating security situation in the world, pointing out that Uzbekistan neighbors one of the most conflict-torn […]

China has decided to grant zero-tariff treatment to 98 percent of taxable products from Afghanistan, its ambassador announced on Wednesday. The decision will come into force on December 1, Wang Yu, China’s ambassador in Kabul, said on Twitter. “This decision is conducive to implementing China’s mutually beneficial and win-win strategy and assisting Afg to accelerate development,” Wang said. Afghanistan is […]