Posts published in “Day: May 9, 2016”

Ashraf Ghani has finally answered the call of the parliament and has appointed Masoom Stanekzai as the new Director for the National Directorate of Intelligence (NDS). He has been replaced by General Abdullah – formerly Chief of Staff at the Ministry – as the acting Defence Minister. Stanekzai will not make the lower house of the Afghan parliament happy though, which is not likely to confirm his appointment, as was the case when President Ghani…

It’s been a rocky relationship for the Pakistanis and the Americans these past few years. And it’s been an even rockier one for the CIA and the ISI, plagued by drone strikes, Raymond Davis, and the Abbottabad raid on Osama Bin Laden — and those are only the episodes we know about. On Thursday, a remarkable story in Washington Post laid out new CIA accusations against the ISI, backdated all the way from the days…

ISLAMABAD: Six Afghan Taliban inmates on death row were hanged on Sunday, government sources said, in the first set of executions approved by President Ashraf Ghani since he came to power in 2014. “In accordance with the Afghan constitution…Ghani approved executions of six Taliban inmates who perpetrated grave crimes against civilians and security personnel,” the presidential palace said in a statement. President Ashraf Ghani approved the executions two days after Amnesty International urged the beleaguered…

PESHAWAR: As many as 253 suspects including Afghan nationals were arrested and arms and drugs were recovered from their possession, during search operations today. According to details, the police and other law enforcement agencies (LEAs) personnel conducted search operations against outlaws in Hashtnagri, Gul Bahar, Pishtakhara, Hayatabad and Sarband areas of provincial capital Peshawar. During search operations the police apprehended 253 suspects including 63 Afghan nationals and recovered seven hand grenades, SMGs, a pistol and…

LASHKAR GAH – Afghan special forces have freed more than 60 prisoners held by the Taliban in a house in the southern province of Helmand, officials said on Friday. During months of fighting, the Taliban have seized control of large parts of Helmand and driven government forces from several districts. In a nighttime helicopter raid, counter-terrorism operators and special forces based in the neighbouring province of Kandahar attacked the house in Naw Zad district and…

KANDAHAR – Gunmen wearing Afghan military uniforms shot dead two NATO soldiers on a base in the country’s south on Saturday, the coalition said, in the latest insider attack on foreign troops. The Taliban did not immediately claim responsibility for the attack, but it comes after the insurgents last month announced the start of their annual spring offensive, vowing “large-scale attacks” across Afghanistan. “Two Resolute Support (NATO) service members died this morning when two individuals…

By ROD NORDLAND and JAWAD SUKHANYAR KABUL, Afghanistan — Taliban insurgents publicly executed two women, one of them in an apparent honor killing, in northern Afghanistan recently, according to Afghan officials, members of the victims’ families and a video posted online. The killings, which were thought to be unrelated, took place in recent months in northern Jowzjan Province, in predominantly Uzbek areas where Taliban presence has traditionally been weak except among ethnic Pashtuns. The killings…

KABUL, Afghanistan — The closer integration of the feared Haqqani militant network into the leadership of the Taliban is changing the flow of the Afghan insurgency this year, with the Haqqanis’ senior leader increasingly calling the shots in the Taliban’s offensive, Afghan and American officials say. The Haqqanis have refined a signature brand of urban terrorist attacks and cultivated a sophisticated international fund-raising network, factoring prominently in the United States military’s push to keep troops…

A recent concert featuring Maoist “red songs,” staged in China’s most high-profile political venue just weeks ahead of the Cultural Revolution’s 50th anniversary, has sparked a backlash over its perceived memorialization of the decadelong mass upheaval unleashed by Mao Zedong. Touted by organizers as a “celebration of socialism,” the May 2 concert featured Chinese girl group 56 Flowers performing revolutionary anthems cheering Mao and modern-day ditties dedicated to President Xi Jinping. After images and videos…

(The writer is an associate research fellow at the International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research of theS Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Singapore) US-Pakistan relations, which had relatively stabilised in the last three years are once again in hot water. There is a sense of déjà vu in Islamabad, as the US Congress has blocked the move of the Obama administration to sell eight F-16 fighter planes to Pakistan at subsidised rates, under…