The writer is a retired air-vice marshal, former ambassador and a security and political analyst. In the 1979 Afghan war the Soviet air force planes soon began violating the Pakistani border. Their targets were the refugee camps all long the Pakistani border which they knew were feeding and sustaining the mujahideen resistance. The Soviet Union was then the second pole in a bipolar world. The Pakistan Air Force reacted but never with the commitment that…
Posts published in “Day: May 28, 2016”
Federal Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan has severely criticised the US policy of taking unilateral action against Taliban leaders without taking Pakistan into confidence. This condemnation came in the wake of killing of Mullah Akhtar Mansour, who was killed in a drone strike on May 21 inside Pakistani territory near the Afghan border. While addressing a press conference, the minister said that the strike would have “serious implications” for relations with the US, describing…
The selection of Maulvi Haibatullah Akhundzada as the new Afghan Taliban chief, just days after Mullah Mansour was killed in a US drone attack in Pakistan, has come as something of a surprise since a power struggle was expected between Sirajuddin Haqqani and Mullah Mohammad Yaqoob. Experts are saying Haibatullah, who was the head of the judiciary in Afghanistan under Taliban rule and is not known to have significant military experience, was the consensus choice…
A top commander of the loyalists of Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terrorist group has likely been killed in airstrikes in eastern Nangarhar province. The Ministry of Defense (MoD) said the airstrikes were carried out in Kot and Achin districts of Nangarhar by the Afghan Air Force. A statement by MoD said at least 8 militants were killed in the air raids and a top commander of the terror group identified as Mullah…
While confirming that the person killed in the US drone strike was indeed Mullah Mansour, the Adviser to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs, Sartaj Aziz lamented that “In less than a year, the peace process has been scuttled twice”. He has a point. Mullah Mansour had ramped up attacks in Afghanistan, but the establishment always believed that “their man” could be reasoned with – after all he did bring the militant group to the…
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Thursday formally acknowledged that a US drone strike in Nushki had killed Afghan Taliban chief Mullah Akhtar Mansour and vowed to continue working with its Quadrilateral Coordination Group partners for reconciliation in Afghanistan despite its reservations about dichotomies in the American strategy. Adviser to the PM on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz in a rare appearance at the foreign ministry’s weekly briefing confirmed Mansour’s death, saying “all indicators confirm that the person killed…
US Senator Dana Rohrabacher has said Pakistan is a reliable partner fir terrorists and not the United States, warning that the provision of millions in aid to Pakistani government in fight against terrorism would have a reverse outcome. The US Senator was speaking to Voice of America’s Afghanistan during an exclusive interview. Senator Rohrabacher further added that Islamabad considers the US airstrike against the Taliban leader a violation of its sovereignty as it has provided…
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s top aide Sartaj Aziz on Thursday said Pakistan was considering linking Gwadar with Iranian harbour Chabahar. “Pakistan welcomes projects of regional connectivity which have the potential to generate economic activity,” Aziz said while responding to a question during a press briefing. The adviser hinted at a proposal of declaring Gwadar and Chabahar as “sister ports” and said Pakistan was also constructing a road to the Iranian port being developed by…
ISLAMABAD: Addressing tensions surrounding Chabahar, Mehdi Honerdoost, the Iranian ambassador to Pakistan, said the Chabahar port agreement between Iran, India and Afghanistan is ‘not finished’ and ‘not limited to these three countries’. Speaking on Pakistan-Iran relations at the Institute of Strategic Studies in Islamabad (ISSI), the envoy revealed that the offer to cooperate had first been extended to Pakistan and then China, implying neither had expressed interest. Ahmed Saffee, a research fellow at the ISSI,…