Authorities in Afghanistan said Saturday coalition airstrikes in an eastern province have killed up to 50 Islamic State militants, while Taliban insurgents have killed at least seven government forces in a western district.

Peace talks between the Taliban and a U.S. peace envoy over a timetable for the withdrawal of American troops in Afghanistan are narrowing a gap between the two sides, a spokesman for the insurgent group said Saturday.

Violence disrupted the Indian election in the disputed Kashmir region on Monday, as separatist militants attacked two polling stations and the police responded with what residents called excessive force.

While testifying before the House Foreign Affairs Committee (HFAC) in July 2016, Zalmay Khalilzad said that Pakistan should be designated as a State Sponsor of Terrorism because it is an ardent supporter of the Taliban. He described the Taliban as an “extremist organization” with enduring ties to al Qaeda.

India will ask the global money laundering and terror finance watchdog to put Pakistan on a blacklist of countries that fail to meet international standards in stopping financial crime, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Thursday.

The urgency to purchase new air defence systems arose after the Indian airstrike in Balakot during which over a dozen Mirage 2000 aircraft of Indian Air Force crossed the border and destroyed alleged terror infrastructure inside Pakistan, the media outlet reports.

Attendees at Afghanistan’s most important national gathering have urged ceasefire between the government and the Taliban militant group as a foretaste to a potential peace deal.

A United Nations Security Council committee has designated the head of the Pakistan-based militant organization Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) as a global terrorist after China withdrew its long-held objections to the designation.

A decision by U.S. military officials in Afghanistan to stop tracking the amount of territory controlled by the Taliban is sparking an increasingly tense showdown with the watchdog overseeing reconstruction efforts.

Russia has started assembling the six Su-30SM fighters that will be delivered to Myanmar under a 2018 bilateral contract, Myanmar Armed Forces Commander-in-Chief Min Aung Hlaing told Sputnik.