AFGHANISTAN is an unfortunate country in two respects. It is divided culturally, linguistically and more important politically. The tribes — particularly the Pakhtun tribes — never fully surrendered their autonomy to the central government. Their loyalty has to be bought on a per-day, per-month and per-year basis, depending on the nature of the bargain. There is/was no one-time payment or settlement unless sanctioned by the Loya Jirga. Then, the Afghans jokingly say that when God…
Posts published in “Day: March 7, 2016”
The decision by the Mullah Akhtar Mansoor faction of the Afghan Taliban to pull out of proposed peace talks with the Afghanistan government should be seen as the opening gambit in a long negotiation rather than the end of such talks. The Taliban have said they will not take part in the negotiations as long as the Afghanistan government launches operations against them, foreign fighters are present in the country and Taliban members are kept…
BEIJING—China’s leaders made clear they are emphasizing growth over restructuring this year, but suggested they are trying to avoid inflating debt or asset bubbles as they send massive amounts of money coursing through the economy. The government’s announcement of a 6.5% to 7% growth target for 2016 at the start of the National People’s Congress over the weekend came with subtle acknowledgment that some of its efforts to jump-start a persistently decelerating economy have misfired,…
RIYADH: Two Saudi boys, one Sunni, another Shia, push their desks together and sit side-by-side smiling in a classroom. Then teachers tell the boys their opposing sects are “evil” and they pull their desks apart, before their parents insist it is okay to be friends, and they walk off hand-in-hand. These scenes were featured in a YouTube video posted online in November for a Saudi centre, funded under an endowment from the late king Abdullah,…
Karachi: Terrorist outfits al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) and the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi are hiring militants of the defunct Harkat-ul-Mujahideen al-Alami (HuMA) – who are mostly Karachi-based – and planning attacks on major important installations in the city, The News learnt on Sunday. The home department issued a letter to police and Rangers a few days informing them that “during the interrogation of some recently apprehended high-value terrorists, it was learnt that on the directives of…
KARACHI: The Malir police on Saturday evening claimed to have killed four suspected militants in an ‘encounter’ near Inara Garden, a residential complex of the Shia Ismaili community, off the Superhighway. The officials added that the suspects belonging to the banned Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) and Lashkar-i-Jhangvi (LJ) were allegedly involved in the killing of members of the Shia community and law enforcers. The deadly encounter took place after contingents of the…
The former Afghan President Hamid Karzai has said the ongoing talks by the Quadrilateral Coordination Group (QCG) were Afghanistan’s only hope for peace. In interview with India’s The Hindu newspaper, Karzai said there is no other hope for peace despite the fact the talks were being held in Pakistan. “We have no other hope for peace. Which is what forces us to accept a condition we are unhappy with (on the venue for talks in…
President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani called on Taliban militants group to choose between war and peace, insisting that the group is facing a major test to choose between the country, nation and militancy. In his speech during the inauguration of the 6th working year of the Afghan parliament, President Ghani said the ongoing violence in the country is not having any internal roots but has been imposed on the Afghan nation. He said Al-Qaeda is one…
ISLAMABAD: Efforts for reviving the reconciliation dialogue between the Afghan government and the Taliban ran into trouble on Saturday with the main faction of the insurgent group denying it planned to join the process, besides questioning its efficacy. “We unequivocally state that the leader of Islamic Emirate has not authorised anyone to participate in this meeting,” said a statement by the Taliban, who officially call themselves ‘Islamic Emirate’ — the moniker they used during the…
KABUL — The Taliban said Saturday they would not participate in international peace talks, citing what they claimed were increased US airstrikes and Afghan government military operations. The talks, convened by the United States, China, Pakistan, and Afghanistan, were expected to start this month in Pakistan. Taliban envoys were expected to join the discussions after being pressured by the Pakistani government, which provides the insurgents with sanctuaries inside its territory. Afghan and Pakistani government officials…
KABUL—An Afghan government delegation recently met with Taliban members in Qatar to discuss efforts to end the country’s long-running war, officials said, after peace talks collapsed last year. The high-level meeting at the end of February was held discreetly in the capital Doha to discuss a possible announcement about restarting official peace talks, one of the officials briefed on the meeting told The Wall Street Journal. “That was the deal, that they wouldn’t simply reject…