Long battles and heavy casualties suffered by both the security forces and insurgents, have led to a situation where military operations in the province have stalled, say Baghlan officials. “The Government has suffered heavy losses to its security personnel and equipment in the war in Baghlan. The enemy has also suffered high casualties in the battles. Now, we do not have the ability [to move forward] and to strengthen our outposts,” said Noor Habib Gulbahari,…
Posts published in “Day: July 13, 2016”
At least one person was killed and four others were wounded in an explosion in Farah province located in western part of Afghanistan. The Ministry of Defense (MoD) said the incident took place in Bala Bolok district in Mullah Khaliq’s residence. According to a statement by MoD, the militants were busy making an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) when the explosives went off prematurely. No further details were given regarding the incident and it is yet…
The Office of the Chief Executive has opposed with the appointment of Ahmad Yousuf Nuristani as the Afghan Ambassador to Spain. A spokesman for CEO Abdullah Abdullah Javid Faisal has said the Office of the Chief Executive hopes that the selection of Ahmad Yousuf Nuristani as Ambassador to Spain is not true. According to Faisal, Nuristani has been repeatedly recommended to CEO Abdullah for the post of the Afghan Ambassador to Spain but it was…
President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani has said the Afghan government leadership expects Pakistan act against the militant groups using its soil to pursue violence in Afghanistan. Speaking during a press conference with the US Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter, President Ghani ruled out relations with Pakistan has deteriorated. President Ghani said the relations between Kabul and Islamabad is clear and the Afghan government expects actions against those pursuing violence. Recalling Pakistan’s commitment to act against the…
The former top American diplomat Zalmay Khalilzad has said Pakistan has been playing a dangerous game since the Taliban group was overthrown. In his testimony before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Khalilzad said Pakistani proxies pose a severe threat to coalition and Afghan forces and civilians. “Indeed, Pakistani policy is the principal cause of the ongoing conflict in Afghanistan.” Khalilzad further added “More broadly, Pakistan’s use of extremist and terrorist proxies – including to…
Pakistan’s use of extremist and terrorist proxies is a significant contributor to the global menace of Islamic extremism, former top U.S diplomat Zalmay Khalilzad said, recommending that Pakistan should be listed as a state sponsor of terrorism. Khalilzad said at the U.S House of Foreign Affairs Committee that Pakistan views the Taliban as an effective proxy to ensure Pakistani dominance over Afghanistan. “Islamabad also believes that continuing the war in Afghanistan will lead to a…
The author is a PhD holder and a research fellow at the Sejong Institute in Seoul With the deployment decision of THAAD, the much-touted “honeymoon” period between Seoul and Beijing is over, but it doesn’t mean that the couple will divorce. Very few people divorce after they return from the honeymoon, even though they have to face the reality of everyday life. From South Korea’s perspective, it was a very difficult decision to make. I…
(The author is a professor of constitutional law and the director of the Paul Tsai China Center at Yale Law School) The authoritative voice of law has now spoken clearly and decisively on a South China Sea churning dangerously with military maneuvers and heated rhetoric. But law’s effects on the conflict are highly uncertain. On Tuesday, a tribunal at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague announced a sweeping victory for the Philippines that…
The final ruling of an international tribunal on territorial disputes between China and the Philippines, which favored the latter, may encourage other claimants to consider international arbitration or at least seek greater interference in the South China Sea from outside powers, observers warned on Tuesday. However, because of each claimant country’s unique political and economical interests, coupled with the need to strike a delicate balance between powers like China and the US, it will be…
BEIJING—An international tribunal emphatically rejected China’s territorial claims in the South China Sea, raising regional tensions and forcing Beijing into a conundrum over how to respond: ignore international law, or yield ground to its neighbors and the U.S. The tribunal at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague ruled overwhelmingly in favor of the Philippines, which had brought the case. Most damaging for China was the decision invalidating its claims to historic rights in…
The writer is an attorney teaching constitutional law and political philosophy. The eleventh day of September 2001 seems a distant memory now. On that day, 19 hijackers unleashed mayhem in the skies over the United States of America. Fifteen of these 19 hijackers, it would later be discovered, were Saudi citizens. Yet the war that ensued, that cast its bloody fingers deep into the Middle East and South Asia, would not be a war against…