In a momentous decision on July 28, 2017, then Prime Minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif was disqualified from holding public office by the country’s apex court on the flimsy pretext of holding an “Iqama” (a work permit) for a Dubai-based company, and was subsequently given a ten-year imprisonment sentence, though the latter decision is subject to appeal.

At least 44 Indian paramilitary personnel have been killed and dozens more wounded after a bomber rammed an explosive-laden car into a military convoy in restive Kashmir.

At least 12 students were injured in an explosion at a school in Indian-controlled Kashmir on Wednesday, police said, though the cause of the blast was not immediately clear.

Taliban negotiators say they will meet U.S. representatives in Pakistan on February 18 as part of ongoing Afghan peace talks, although a State Department official said the U.S. team had not yet received an invitation to the talks.

Afghanistan’s Taliban have named a 14-member negotiating team for upcoming peace talks with U.S. special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad. The Taliban’s team includes the jailed brother of the head of the powerful Taliban-affiliated Haqqani network.

The fully loaded Tejas MK-1 will be equipped with battle-ready capabilities, including mid-air refuelling, AESA radar, an electronic warfare array, and smart bombs.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on Sunday offered the Taliban the possibility of opening an office in Afghanistan but the proposal was swiftly spurned by the group that is determined to keep his government out of accelerating peace talks.

The Pentagon has stepped up airstrikes and special operations raids in Afghanistan to the highest levels since 2014 in what Defense Department officials described as a coordinated series of attacks on Taliban leaders and fighters.

The U.S. special envoy for Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, who just returned to Washington after a series of stops in the Middle East and Europe, is journeying out again to several key countries as part of efforts to push a U.S. peace initiative for the war-torn country.

China has condemned a visit by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to a disputed border region which triggered a war between the nuclear-armed neighbors in 1962.