For the first time since the US occupation of Afghanistan in 2001, ground has been paved for Taliban leaders to sit face-to-face with the Afghan government and to find a political solution to the problem. Pakistan has offered to host the important meeting that is likely to be held in the first week of March this year in Islamabad. Hopes for the possibility of this sought after dialogue process have been made possible courtesy efforts…
Posts published in February 2016
Russia’s move to arm Afghan security forces is seen as another sign of Moscow’s deepening involvement with the war-torn country. Kabul: Afghan officials took delivery of 10,000 automatic rifles and millions of rounds of ammunition as a gift from Russia on Wednesday, another sign of deepening involvement by Moscow in the war-torn country. Dependent almost entirely on foreign aid, Afghan security forces are struggling to secure the country amid a rising insurgency. As the NATO-led…
Around 700 anti-government armed militants have reportedly abandoned Qosh Tapa district with the arrival of Vice President General Abdul Rashid Dostum. Gen. Dostum is accompanied by nearly 10,000 members of the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) and is currently in Jawzjan to clear the areas under the Taliban control. Speaking to local residents, Gen. Dostum said he has not visited Jawzjan to wage war and invited the anti-government armed militants to join the peace process.…
KABUL: The Afghan Taliban said on Wednesday they had not been officially contacted by Kabul about the resumption of direct talks aimed at ending their conflict. The comment came a day after the latest round of dialogue in the Afghan capital between officials from Afghanistan, the United States, China and Pakistan. The representatives of the four states called on the militants to return to the negotiating table and said they expect the process to begin…
KHAAMA PRESS – Thu Feb 25 2016, 7:55 am The Hezb-e-Islami party led by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar officials have said they will consider an invitation to the proposed peace talks likely to take place in the first week of March. A senior leader of the party based in Pakistan has said they have not received any formal invitation for the direct talks so far, a local newspaper reported. The senior leader, Dr. Ghairat Baheer, said Hezb-e-Islami…
The Chinese media have never had much freedom to pursue muckraking stories, or even to dutifully report the facts. Now, President Xi Jinping is going to extraordinary lengths to rein the press in even further. Mr. Xi recently visited the three main newsrooms in the country to convey in unmistakable terms that journalists are expected to behave like apparatchiks. That message, which predictably received fawning coverage, came a few days after the government announced it…
CANBERRA—Australia’s government is strengthening its U.S. alliance and plowing ahead with a 10-year, $140 billion military expansion amid rising regional tensions over China’s muscle-flexing on key trade routes in the South China Sea. A defense blueprint released by Australia’s conservative Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on Thursday urged Beijing to be more forthcoming about its security intentions in the South China Sea, where China is building artificial islands. While stopping short of directly confronting China over…
China is on a quest to reshape the world’s nuclear industry and play a big role in new projects globally. A trip inside the country’s oldest large-scale nuclear power station near the southern metropolis of Shenzhen reveals the great heights of its ambition. China General Nuclear Power Group, one of the country’s biggest and fastest-growing nuclear providers, this week welcomed a coterie of foreign business leaders, diplomats and reporters inside its heavily fortified nuclear power…
Vice President General Abdul Rashid Dostum has once again returned to battlefield in a bid to clear the areas under the anti-government armed militants control. This time Gen. Dostum has joined thousands of the Afghan security forces in two districts of northern Jawzjan province of Afghanistan, four months after he first launched operations in this province. Gen. Dostum will start counter-terrorism and clearing operations in Qosh Tapa and Darzab districts of Jawzjan province this time.…
General Raheel Sharif’s day-long visit to Qatar on the eve of The Quadrilateral Coordination Group’s (QCG) meeting to agree on a date for talks with the Taliban is indicative of Pakistan’s decision to include other parties in the reconciliation process. Qatar’s role in the negotiations between the Afghan Taliban and the government has been minimal up until now, but the presence of the Taliban’s official office in the country is seemingly enough reason for Pakistan…
ISLAMABAD: The Quadrilateral Coordination Group (QCG) on Afghan peace and reconciliation announced on Monday that Pakistan will host peace talks between the Afghan government and the Afghan Taliban. A joint communiqué issued by the QCG after a meeting held in Kabul stated that all Taliban and other groups will be invited to participate in the talks through their authorised representatives. The talks are expected to be held in the first week of March. Referring to…