The writer is an author and journalist. CONFUSION and uncertainty surround the resumption of direct talks between the Kabul government and the insurgents. The warring Afghan sides were supposed to return to the negotiating table next week after a hiatus of more than eight months. But it is still not certain whether the Afghan Taliban are willing to join the intra-Afghan dialogue. The invite has also been extended to other Afghan insurgent groups, widening the…
Posts published in “Day: March 2, 2016”
The writer heads the independent Centre for Research and Security Studies, Islamabad and is author of Pakistan: Pivot of Hizbut Tahrir’s Global Caliphate Sunny Kabul is abuzz with diplomatic activity. One the one hand, the National Unity Government (NUG) is striving hard to get the reconciliation process going with lots of behind-the-scenes contacts between various stakeholders. On the other, immediate neighbours such as Pakistan, India as well as other members of the Quadrilateral Coordination Group…
At least four policemen lost their lives in a suspected insider attack in southern Kandahar province of Afghanistan, local officials said Tuesday. A local security official confirmed the incident and said the attack was carried out by another policeman, apparently having links with the anti-government armed militants. The security official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, further added that the assailant officer managed to flee the area following the attack, taking with him several weapons…
At least 98 anti-government armed militants were killed and scores of others were wounded in ongoing military operations by the Afghan security forces, the Ministry of Defense (MoD) said. Providing operational update, the Ministry of Defense (MoD), said at least 11 militants affiliated with Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terrorist group were among those killed. A statement by MoD said at least 49 militants were wounded and 12 others were arrested besides various…
Two loyalists of the terrorist group of Islamic State (IS) which is also known by its Arabic name Daesh have been killed by their own explosives in eastern Nangarhar province. According to a statement released on Wednesday by the spokesperson of Nangarhar police, the incident took place in Mazdaki village of Achin district. “Two Daesh armed men have been killed and three others wounded in the explosions of their two home-made bombs in the jurisdiction…
KABUL — At this stage of his career, Ahmad Jawad would like to be selling the terraced estates that housed Taliban leaders before they were driven from the Afghan capital in 2001. But the 27-year-old realtor hasn’t sold a house in nearly a year, and he is so desperate for money that he hopes the Taliban returns to Kabul to impose “rule of law.” “If they can enforce the law like it was enforced during…
Kabul amenable to all but one Taliban demand: By Tahir Khan in The Express Tribune, March 2nd, 2016.
KABUL: A top Afghan presidential aide says Kabul is willing to accommodate key demands of the Taliban, if the group drops preconditions for planned direct talks. The statement by Qutbuddin Hilal, adviser to President Ashraf Ghani on Peace Affairs, is important given the fact that the Taliban have called on a quartet of international and regional countries to take certain steps before they could join the talks scheduled for the first week of March in…
India and Pakistan — prisoners of the past: By Talat Masood in The Express Tribune, March 2nd, 2016.
The writer is a retired lieutenant general of the Pakistan Army and a former federal secretary. He has also served as chairman of the Pakistan Ordnance Factories Board Pakistan-India relations received a major setback after the Pathankot incident for which India blamed the Jaish-e-Mohammad to be the prime suspect for the attack. Narendra Modi, in a recent interview, remarked that talks between the two countries would remain suspended until there is progress from Pakistan on…
ISLAMABAD – Indian Prime Minister will not visit Pakistan later this year if New Delhi was not satisfied with the Pathankot investigations and results, official sources said citing back-channel communication. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s Special Assistant on Foreign Affairs Tariq Fatemi said this week Prime Minister Modi was expected to visit Islamabad in November for the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation summit. Dates for the upcoming SAARC summit in Islamabad were being worked out…
The ranks of China’s Big V’s are Over the weekend, Chinese authorities ordered Twitter-like microblogging site Weibo to close the account of outspoken former real estate executive and Communist Party member Ren Zhiqiang. The account was shut down because Mr. Ren used it to spread “illegal information” that had a “vile influence,” China’s Internet regulator said, though it didn’t offer details. The retired chairman of Huayuan Property Co. had earlier gone online to criticize Chinese…
BEIJING—One morning in mid-January, about 120 of the Communist Party’s top disciplinarians gathered to hear Chinese President Xi Jinping chart their priorities for the new year. After a three-year anticorruption sweep in which some 750,000 party members were punished, Mr. Xi now had another demand: enforce unswerving loyalty to preserve “the party’s centralized unity.” A number of officials were penalized in recent months for internal dissent—described as political deviance—while Mr. Xi called on cadres, academics…