The Taliban on Thursday ordered their fighters to leave private homes they had taken over during last month’s blitz when the group seized control of Afghanistan, an apparent effort to impose order among Taliban ranks. Meanwhile, in the capital of Kabul, the Taliban fired shots to disperse a women’s rally demanding equal rights while the regional chief for the International Federation of the Red Cross warned that Afghanistan was sliding into a deep “major humanitarian…
Posts published in “Paktalibanization”
ISLAMABAD – The US administration has conveyed to Pakistan to put on hold the issue of recognition of the Taliban government till the consensus is developed on the matter by all stakeholders. Credible diplomatic sources told The Nation that the matter was discussed in detail during ministerial level contact between the two countries on the sidelines of the UNGA last week in New York. Sources termed this face to face meeting between two foreign ministers…
Afghan diplomats in Islamabad have confirmed that the embassy has received a letter signed by acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi about the appointments of diplomats in Afghan embassy Islamabad and Peshawar consulate. Taliban have not yet officially commented on the letter drafted by the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Directorate of Human Resources. The Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid when approached said he would check the reports. Pakistan has not recognised the…
Admittedly, Pakistan has played a pivotal role in the conclusion of a peace deal between the US and Taliban, which eventually paved the way for the exit of US and NATO forces from Afghanistan and getting the intra-Afghan dialogue started. It remained inconclusive due to the flurry of developments that have again catapulted the Taliban as rulers of Afghanistan. However, the situation in Afghanistan is much more complicated at the moment than when the Taliban…
The war is not yet over. It has simply entered another phase. It means the US is not done with Afghanistan. Yet. It needs to ensure that the Afghan soil is not used to launch terror attacks. This will demand inputs, both military and diplomatic, to deliver. This surveillance-a word used for lack of a better one-places greater stress on the Taliban government to keep other organisations of different shades and hues in line. Those…
As the Taliban consolidate power in neighbouring Afghanistan, the international community is still grappling with the profound political change sweeping through the war-torn country. A central question for the world is: Did the US and its allies meet the primary objectives of the two-decade-long Afghanistan war? After the traumatic 9/11 attacks, an enraged American president, George W Bush addressed his nation and expressed his concerns about Afghanistan in the following words: “The leadership of Al-Qaeda…
One of the founders of the Taliban and the chief enforcer of its harsh interpretation of Islamic law when they last ruled Afghanistan has said the hardline movement will once again carry out executions and amputations of hands, though perhaps not in public. In an interview with Associated Press, Mullah Nooruddin Turabi dismissed outrage over the Taliban’s executions in the past, which sometimes took place in front of crowds at a stadium, and warned the…
Ibrahim’s parents fled political turmoil in China for Afghanistan more than 50 years ago. At that time, Mao Zedong had unleashed the Cultural Revolution, and life was upended for many Uyghurs, the mostly Muslim ethnic group in Xinjiang that included Ibrahim’s parents. Ibrahim was born in Afghanistan. But now he, too, is trying to escape the clutches of Chinese authoritarianism. He and his family have been afraid to leave their home in Afghanistan since the…
Talks between U.S. and global leaders this week underscored intensifying concerns about the fallout from the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan, but they produced no consensus on how and when to fully resume vital financial assistance to the country as it plunges deeper into economic crisis. Secretary of State Antony Blinken discussed the international response to the militant group’s stunning August victory in meetings with senior officials from China, France, Pakistan and other countries on the…
Newly appointed Afghanistan cricket chairman Azizullah Fazli said on Wednesday he would visit Pakistan later this week to invite the side for a one-day series. The war-torn nation has steadily risen in international cricket over the past few years, with stars such as the world’s top spinner Rashid Khan, but there have been calls for a boycott of the men’s team after the Taliban’s takeover last month. The change of government has called into question…
The Taliban refused to bow to the demands of the United Nations and the international community to include women in their cabinet, announcing the completion of an interim government with a lineup that was entirely male and kept members of the Taliban’s old guard in the top echelon of the leadership. Tuesday’s announcement, which focused on filling posts at the deputy-minister level, did give a few of those jobs to ethnic minorities, including Tajiks, Uzbeks…