Tajikistan is interfering in the internal affairs of Afghanistan, Abdul Ghani Baradar, the acting deputy head of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) said on Sunday. “Tajikistan interferes in our affairs, for every action there is a reaction,” Baradar said in an interview with al Jazeera TV channel. A day earlier, IEA spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said on Twitter that the […]
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Khalilzad says things could have been very different had Ghani stayed
US special envoy for Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad said this weekend that former president Ashraf Ghani’s decision to leave Afghanistan without warning took everyone, including Washington, by surprise. In an exclusive interview with Ariana News, Khalilzad said that the night before his departure, the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken had spoken to Ghani on the phone. He said Ghani had […]
Read more ›China’s Reluctant Taliban Embrace – Analysis
On 18 July, Taliban leader Hibatullah Akhundzada said the group seeks strong diplomatic, economic and political relations with all countries including the United States. The Taliban soon revealed it had opened several channels of communication with foreign countries. China is among the first in the region to embrace — albeit cautiously — the new political reality shaping Afghanistan. For Beijing, […]
Read more ›‘Easing Afghan sanctions amid economic crisis hopeful’
Last week, 56 people were killed or wounded in Afghanistan as reactions from the world including the US about the caretaker government of Taliban seemed soft due to economic crisis facing the Afghans. Major events of last week: Attacks and civilian casualties: The past 40-year conflict finally comes to an end after the Taliban captured Panjshir province on September 6. […]
Read more ›4 troops killed in Balochistan bomb attack
Four paramilitary troops have been killed and two others wounded in a bomb attack in southeastern Balochistan province. The attack targeted a vehicle of the Frontier Corps in the Khosat area of Harnai district on Saturday, Dawn reported on Sunday. According to the newspaper, the outlawed Baloch Liberation Army claimed responsibility for the bombing. The FC soldiers came under attack […]
Read more ›India’s Modi tells UNGA Afghanistan cannot be used to spread terrorism
At the United Nations General Assembly annual meeting Saturday, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said it was crucial that Afghanistan not be used to spread terrorism globally, and he called on world leaders to help minorities in the country, including women and children. “It is important to ensure that the land of Afghanistan is not used to spread terrorism and […]
Read more ›Taliban hints resumption of extreme punishments
The Taliban’s notorious former head of religious police has said extreme punishments such as executions and amputations will resume in Afghanistan. Mullah Nooruddin Turabi, now in charge of prisons, told AP News amputations were “necessary for security”. He said these punishments may not be meted out in public, as they were under previous Taliban rule in the 1990s. But he […]
Read more ›China and Pakistan See Eye to Eye on the Taliban—Almost
As the dust settles on the Taliban’s reconquest of Afghanistan, regional neighbors are adjusting their policies to take the new geostrategic reality into account. Among these countries are the self-proclaimed “iron brothers”—China and Pakistan. The good news for Beijing and Islamabad is that their respective policies on Taliban-run Afghanistan broadly align. But one particularly touchy and important area of policy—countering […]
Read more ›China senior diplomat says economic sanctions on Afghanistan must end
China’s State Councillor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said the various unilateral sanctions or restrictions on Afghanistan should be lifted as soon as possible, Reuters reported. According to the report economic sanctions on Afghanistan must end, the Chinese foreign ministry said in a statement, citing Wang at a virtual G20 foreign ministers meeting on Afghanistan on Wednesday. Afghanistan’s foreign exchange […]
Read more ›IEA’s foreign minister calls for ‘neutral’ foreign relations
The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan’s acting foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi has urged the international community to refrain from putting unnecessary pressure on the new Afghan government. Speaking at an event on Thursday in Kabul, Mutaqi warned that if a country “pursues enmity with Afghanistan instead of friendship”, it will face the resistance of Afghans. Muttaqi also called for the […]
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