Aref Mohammad’s war against the Islamic State ended earlier this fall when his unit of Taliban fighters was ambushed by the terrorist group in eastern Afghanistan. A bullet shattered his femur, leaving him disabled and barely able to walk, never mind fight. But for the Taliban movement he served under, now the government of Afghanistan, the war against the Islamic […]

In an interview aired in the US in June 2021, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan announced that Pakistan will deny US use of its territory for “over-the-horizon” surveillance of possible terrorist activity in Afghanistan. Now, there are negotiations for the US to use Pakistan’s airspace for military operations in Afghanistan, but is this really an ally on which the United […]

The Imran Khan government’s secret deal with the banned group will get the latter off the streets but at a price. The government of Pakistan has signed yet another agreement with the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) after a two- week-long protest by the group, which killed scores of policemen and caused massive economic losses. It has refused to divulge details of […]

With the departure of U.S. troops from Afghanistan this August, the post-9/11 era seems to be ending. Challenges such as climate change, a bellicose China, and the crisis of liberal institutions have crowded out jihadi terrorism as the primary American foreign-policy concern. Even in the narrow counterterrorism realm, white supremacist violence and anti-government extremism are the flavors of the day, […]

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 […]

The pact, announced Sunday, defused a crisis that had paralyzed several cities, but it also highlighted the government’s struggle to assert itself against religious extremists. Pakistan averted a political showdown on Monday as officials reopened a key national highway that supporters of a militant Islamist group had occupied for days, following a secret pact between the government and the group. […]

Every few days, bodies are dumped on the outskirts of the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad. Some have been shot or hanged, some beheaded. Many have handwritten notes stuffed into their pockets, accusing them of being members of Afghanistan’s branch of the Islamic State. No-one claims responsibility for the gruesome, extra-judicial killings, but the Taliban are widely assumed to be […]

Taliban diplomats have started work in the Afghan Embassy in Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad, and at Afghan consulates in other Pakistani cities, two Taliban officials and two Afghan diplomats told VOA Thursday. VOA has obtained copies of official Taliban notifications sent to the Afghan Embassy in Islamabad. Pakistani officials say they have allowed the deployments even though Pakistan has not yet […]

Taliban diplomats have started work in the Afghan Embassy in Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad, and at Afghan consulates in other Pakistani cities, two Taliban officials and two Afghan diplomats told VOA Thursday. VOA has obtained copies of official Taliban notifications sent to the Afghan Embassy in Islamabad. Pakistani officials say they have allowed the deployments even though Pakistan has not yet […]

Unidentified gunmen attacked a police patrol overnight in northwest Pakistan, killing four before fleeing the scene, a police official said Wednesday. No group claimed responsibility for the attack in Lakki Marwat, a town in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan. Police official Umar Khan said a search operation for the culprits was still underway. Khan provided no further details and […]