KHAAMA PRESS,Nov 19 2015, 7:43 pm The National Directorate of Security (NDS) – Afghanistan’s intelligence agency has arrested a Taliban commander with his men involved in attack that led to the fall of Kundoz city in September. NDS in a statement released on Thursday states that Ziulhaq and his men Qari Shir Agha, Qandagha, Mohammad Naqib and Wahidullah had recently crossed border into Baghlan province from neighboring Kundoz for attacks. Besides the assault on the…
Posts published in November 2015
KHAAMA PRESS – Thu Nov 19 2015, 1:24 pm Taliban militants have captured Yamgan of Badakhshan province for second time in six months. Militants armed with heavy and light weapons launched a coordinated attack on this district from several angles yesterday and ultimately captured the it. Sakhi Dad Haidari, Deputy Police Chief of Badakhshan said due to bad weather conditions, reinforcement did not arrive to Yamgan on time. The district was overrun by Taliban in…
PTI report in The Hindu, Nov 20, 2015 New Delhi: Afghanistan on Thursday pressed for operationalising the four-year-old India-Afghanistan Strategic Partnership Pact (SPA), in which defence cooperation is a major component. Afghan Deputy Foreign Minister Hekamat Karzai said a meeting between the National Security Advisors of the two countries had discussed the ways to enhance defence cooperation, but refused to elaborate details of the deliberations. He said Afghanistan’s NSA has given its “wish list” to…
KHAAMA PRESS, Nov 19 2015, 7:44 pm The loyalists of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terror group in Afghanistan are training children as young as 3-year-old as they are looking to expand their foothold in the country. The harrowing fact regarding the use of kids as new recruits in Afghanistan has been revealed in a news documentary series which aired by PBS this week. The “Frontline” Documentary has been prepared by Najibullah…
In a recently released research by the Pew Research Center, out of 11 Muslim majority countries, Pakistan seems to be the only one where a majority offered no definite opinion of ISIS. In 11 Muslim majority countries including Jordan, Malaysia, Indonesia and Lebanon, the majority held strong opinions against ISIS with a very small minority in some cases showing support for ISIS and similarly small numbers expressing no opinion about the militant group. However, in…
By Devlin Barrett & Adam Entous in Washington and Benoit Faucon in Paris U.S. and European counter-terrorism officials believe Islamic State has changed its operational tactics by borrowing from al Qaeda’s playbook, deploying trusted lieutenants to engineer larger, more coordinated plots against the West. The attacks in Paris were the latest and most visible manifestation of this new approach, U.S. intelligence and law enforcement officials suspect. Intercepted communications and other intelligence analyzed after two other…
by Emily Rauhala in the Washington Post, Nov 19, 2015 at 10:35 PM HONGYA, China — The first snow of the season lies light on the hills and the air smells of wood smoke; the police who guard this village on the eastern edge of the Tibetan Plateau must be inside by the stove. Beyond a solitary checkpoint, a paved road rises up and around and passes a high-walled courtyard with a richly painted gate.…
By Jon Boone in The Guardian, Nov 18, 2015 at 05.01 GMT Islamabad: Afghan refugees who have lived in Pakistan for decades are being driven out of the country in a wave of harassment by officials, with many facing arbitrary arrests and the destruction of what little property they own, Human Rights Watch has said. Pakistan’s large population of Afghans has long lived at the margins of society, but a report by the rights group…
Report in The News, Nov 19, 2015 ISLAMABAD: Defence Minister, Khawaja Asif on Wednesday said no permission of any sort is required to Army Chief’s visits abroad and that his current trip to the US had been scheduled a couple of weeks in advance. Talking to media persons here, Khawaja Asif explained that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s visit to US was focused on Pak-US bilateral ties and the overall situation of the region while Army…
By Shabbir Mir in The Express Tribune, November 19th, 2015 GILGIT: The Pakistan Army has trained a special high altitude force in Gilgit–Baltistan to encourage foreign tourists to visit the region. A ceremony was held on Tuesday to mark the completion of the training. G-B Chief Minister Hafeezur Rahman attended the event as a chief guest. Force Commander Major General Asim Munir was also present on the occasion. Speaking to The Express Tribune on Wednesday…
SOUND BYTE: ‘The more Afghans trust Pakistan, the worse off we are’
By Ikram Junaidi in Dawn, November 19th, 2015 Last week, a group of journalists, academics and civil society members from Afghanistan were invited to what was informally known as a ‘Track 1.5/2’ exchange, hosted by the Centre for Research and Security Studies (CRSS). Dawn spoke to Barry Salaam, a media professional and human rights activist, who visited Islamabad for the dialogue, and asked him about the prospects for peace between the two neighbours in the…