Accusing Islamabad of playing a “double game” in Afghanistan by supporting the Taliban and then pretending to endorse Washington DC’s policies in the region at the same time, former Director of the US Defence Intelligence Agency, General Michael Flynn, has said that he was more concerned about Pakistan collapsing due to the instability caused by the militant factions in the war-torn mountainous country, observing America would have a significant problem at hand if that happened.…
Posts published in June 2016
Afghans asked not to enter Pakistan without valid documents IBRAHIM SHINWARI in Dawn, June 1st, 2016
LANDI KOTAL: Security guards at the Torkham border on Tuesday made announcements on loudspeakers warning Afghan nationals against travelling to Pakistan without valid documents. Local sources said that the announcements were repeatedly made throughout the day in order to apprise the visiting Afghans at the border that the last date for allowing Afghans without legal documents had expired and no one would be given any relaxation from June 1 onwards. The local administration on its…
PESHAWAR/Islamabad – Afghanistan closed on Tuesday its Consulate in Peshawar over alleged harassment of its diplomatic staff. “We have closed the Consulate because of mistreatment of some diplomats in Peshawar on Tuesday morning by security personnel,” Afghan Embassy sources in Islamabad said. They said the Embassy has lodged a protest with the Foreign Ministry and the security forces. The move came as Pakistan was set to introduce border management system at Torkham from June 1…
KABUL: Former Afghan president Hamid Karzai has said he will visit Pakistan next month. “I’ve received an invitation from Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif a couple of days back,” Karzai told a group of journalists at his residence in Kabul on Tuesday. He thanked Premier Nawaz and prayed for his recovery from a major heart surgery. Karzai said cordial relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan were in the interest of both the neighbours. He praised Pakistan and…
The writer is a poet and author based in Islamabad. I read with interest the recent news reports of a dialogue being held in Islamabad on national security, deterrence and regional stability in South Asia. With India and Iran inking an agreement on developing the Chabahar port in the Persian Gulf, about 100 miles west of Gwadar, some defence strategists in Pakistan have raised new alarms about Pakistan’s security. They are seeing the planned trade…
The civil-military divergence of views on foreign policy issues is best illustrated by the statements of Sartaj Aziz and two former defence secretaries on the Chabahar agreement. Aziz had said Pakistan welcomed projects of regional connectivity which have potential to generate economic activity. Further that Pakistan was considering linking Gwadar with Iranian harbour Chabahar and declaring Gwadar and Chabahar as “sister ports”. Lt Gen (r) Asif Yasin Malik on the other hand has called the…