President Ashraf Ghani said on Wednesday the Taliban still has “deep ties to al-Qaeda, Jaish-e-Muhammad and Lashkar-e-Taiba” and wants Afghanistan to become a safe haven for terrorists. Addressing commandos at the Special Operations Corps base on Wednesday, during his Eid al-Adha visit, Ghani said while the Taliban still had strong ties to the terrorist groups, the Afghan government and people […]

The Taliban appear to have “strategic momentum” in the fight for control of Afghanistan as they put increasing pressure on key cities, setting the stage for a decisive period in coming weeks, the top U.S. military officer General Mark Milley said Wednesday. “This is going to be a test now of the will and leadership of the Afghan people — […]

The following is the second of a series of analyses by Chinese dissident and expert Chris King, who is a Senior Research Fellow for the MEMRI Chinese Media Studies Project, on the personality cult of Chinese President Xi Jinping. King was an active participant in the student protests in China in 1989.[1] Mao Zedong’s cult of personality had the benefit […]

The United States and Turkey reached an agreement under which Turkey is to secure Kabul’s airport after the withdrawal of all American and NATO allied troops from Afghanistan by the end of August, 2021. This prompted a vigorous condemnation from the Taliban including the threat of Jihad: “We consider stay of foreign forces in our homeland by any country under […]

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 […]