Afghanistan has teetered on the brink of being a failed state for decades, and there are those that argue that the greatest stability in recent times was the period when the Taliban ruled. Their reign was nasty, brutish and short and remembered if not through a rose-tinted prism then at least with a memory of a crudely effective rule of law — and the appalling treatment of women throughout. The Taliban were ousted in short…
Posts published in “Day: April 17, 2016”
At least 600 civilians were killed and 1,343 others were wounded in the first quarter of 2016, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan said. Calling on all parties to the conflict to take precautions to protect civilians during the operations, the UN mission, said release of the first quarter civilian casualty data for 2016 showed continued record numbers of civilian casualties. “Even if a conflict intensifies, it does not have to be matched by…
Afghan intelligence operatives have foiled a terrorist attack plot by the Haqqani terrorist network on a hotel in capital Kabul. The National Directorate of Security (NDS) said a suspected militant was looking to carry out the attack on a hotel in Shahr-e-Naw part of the city using 2 Improvised Explosive Device (IED). A statement by NDS said the detained militant affiliated with the Haqqani network has been identified as Khalid who is also famous as…
Ministry of Defense (MoD) has confirmed that an Afghan army helicopter was hit by 82mm rocket fire anti-government armed militant groups. Dawlat Waziri, spokesman for the Ministry of Defense, said the helicopter was making emergency landing in Nari area of Kunar when it was hit by the rocket. He said two pilots of the helicopter suffered minor injuries after the rocket impacted the helicopter and caught fire. Waziri further added that the Taliban group claims…
WASHINGTON: A Maryland man believed to be the youngest person ever convicted of US terrorism charges may not be deported to Pakistan because he would likely face torture there by government officials, an American judge has ruled. Mohammed H. Khalid, who legally moved from Pakistan with his family to suburban Baltimore as a young teenager, was arrested in 2011 at age 17 as part of the failed “Jihad Jane” conspiracy to murder a Swedish artist…
The writer is a former Pakistan ambassador to the UN. RECENTLY, US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter reportedly opened a meeting with senior Pakistani military leaders by declaring: “I must tell you, I am a friend of India.” The statement, besides being gauche, was superfluous. Carter’s closeness to the Indians is all too evident. The US defence secretary has met four times in the last year with his Indian counterpart, as noted in the joint communiqué…