President Ashraf Ghani said Tuesday after a prayer ceremony at the Presidential Palace marking Eid al-Adha, an event marred by a rocket attack, that the Taliban has no intention of working for peace. Despite the rockets falling, Ghani and other high-ranking officials calmly continued praying. Mirwais Stanekzai, a spokesman for the Ministry of Interior, stated that the first rocket hit […]

Russian tanks deployed near the Afghan-Tajik border on Tuesday ahead of military exercises next month and Moscow announced more drills in neighboring Uzbekistan as regional tensions over the Taliban’s territorial gains in Afghanistan remained high. Taliban fighters have made major advances as U.S. forces pull out after 20 years of war, a security headache for Moscow which fears refugees may […]

President Vladimir Putin in June offered U.S. counterpart Joe Biden the use of Russian military bases in Central Asia for information gathering from Afghanistan, the Kommersant newspaper reported on Saturday, as American troops leave the country. Taliban fighters have made major advances as U.S. forces pull out after 20 years of war, a security headache for Moscow which fears refugees […]

Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada, the Taliban leader, said in a message issued on the occasion of Eid al-Adha on Sunday that the Taliban group “with all its victories and military advances, is a serious supporter of a political solution to the country’s problem.” He said that the Taliban would use any opportunity that “would lead to the uprising of the Islamic […]

The Afghan government and the Taliban negotiating teams have discussed the establishment of three separate working teams to pursue peace talks, sources said Sunday. The seven-member delegations from both sides have held four rounds of talks behind closed doors since Friday. Sources familiar with the process in Doha, in Qatar, where talks are underway, told Ariana News that the teams […]

The Afghan Security and Defense Forces (ANSDF) have recaptured two districts in the last 24 hours, officials said Sunday. Ajmal Omar Shinwari, a spokesman for the ANSDF, said that the Surkh Parsa district in northern Parwan and the Malistan district in central Ghazni province were retaken, bringing the total recaptured districts to 24. Shinwari stated that the Afghan forces have […]

On July 15, 2021, the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) arrested Mahmudul Hasan Gunabi aka Hasan, the ‘spiritual leader’ of banned Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT)/ Ansar al-Islam from the Shah Ali area of Dhaka city. Gunabi used to deliver religious speeches at different madrasas (seminaries) to identify a target group, lure them into militancy and train them in secret dens in […]

In the second ever worst ever attack, in terms of fatalities, targeting Chinese nationals and projects in Pakistan, a vehicle driven by a suicide attacker and laden with explosives rammed a convoy of Chinese workers headed to the Dasu Hydropower Plant project site at Dasu in the Upper Kohistan District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), killing at least 13 persons, including […]

While a ceasefire is still elusive, two days of talks in Doha, Qatar, between the Afghan government and Taliban delegations wrapped up on a somewhat positive note after both sides agreed to continue negotiations. Delegates from both sides met late Sunday night – again behind closed doors. Abdullah Abdullah, Chairman of the High Council for National Reconciliation (HCNR), who headed […]

Pakistan’s Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid on Sunday denied claims that the daughter of Afghanistan’s ambassador to Pakistan in Islamabad had been abducted, saying it was an “international racket” led by Indian intelligence agency Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) to defame Pakistan. Ambassador Najibullah Alikhil’s daughter, Silsila Alikhil, was allegedly kidnapped on Friday from the capital’s commercial hub by unidentified persons, […]