The Taliban have decided to take action against officials who removed Pakistan’s flag from aid trucks that arrived in Afghanistan via the Torkham border carrying necessary food items. On Sunday, Pakistan had donated food items — loaded in 17 container trucks — on humanitarian grounds to the newly-formed Taliban government in Afghanistan. Speaking on the occasion, Pak-Afghan Cooperation Forum Chairman Habibullah Khan had said that the goodwill gesture from Pakistan was made at a time…
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Two people were killed when three blasts struck the Afghan city of Jalalabad on Saturday, at least one of which targeted a Taliban vehicle, in the country’s first deadly attack since the United States withdrew. “In one attack a Taliban vehicle patrolling in Jalalabad was targeted,” a Taliban official who asked not to be named told AFP. “Women and children were among the injured,” he added. An official from the health department of Nangarhar Province…
DUSHANBE: The foreign ministers of Russia, China, Pakistan and Iran on Thursday held a meeting on the ongoing situation in Afghanistan and evolving security paradigm in the region, urging the Taliban to form an inclusive government in the country. Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, China’s Wang Yi, Pakistan’s Shah Mehmood Qureshi and Iran’s Hussain Amir Abdollahian met at the sidelines of the heads of state summit meeting of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and the Collective…
PESHAWAR: The Taliban have sought to quash reports of differences between their senior members over the makeup of the interim government which provided grist to the rumour mills and set off a guessing game in the media. Anas Haqqani of the Haqqani Network and Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the deputy prime minister of Afghanistan, made video statements to deny the rumours of schisms within the Taliban hierarchy over the caretaker set-up. The development came days…
Deputy Minister of information and culture and spokesperson of the Taliban Zabiullah Mujahid has denied the recent report of human rights watchdog and said that they have not violated human rights. Zabiullah Mujahid said that their fighters have not committed any kind of war crimes in Panjshir province and added that the organization will be given full access to go to the scene and investigate the allegations. The spokesperson in a statement said that the…
BRUSSELS: A top European Union (EU) diplomat Tuesday said the bloc has no option but to talk to Afghanistan’s new Taliban rulers and Brussels will try to coordinate with member governments to organise a diplomatic presence in Kabul, reported a British wore service. “The Afghan crisis is not over,” EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell told the European Parliament in Strasbourg. “To have any chance of influencing events, we have no other option but to…
NAJAF: Many Afghans from the Hazara ethnic minority studying in Iraq’s city of Najaf watched in terror as their homeland fell back into Taliban hands.And while they feel safe for now, they fear for their families back home and for their own safety should they ever return. Millions of Shiite pilgrims come each year to Najaf to mourn the death of the Prophet Mohammed’s son-in-law Ali, whose mausoleum stands in the old city. Others, like…
KHYBER: Afghan Taliban suspended the return of Afghan nationals to their country through the Torkham border on Monday. Security officials on Pakistani side of the crossing point, however, said vehicular traffic continued as loaded vehicles from both the sides crossed the border. Though the exact reason for restricting movement of Afghans returning to their country could not be ascertained, local sources said hundreds of Afghans aspiring to come to Pakistan had gathered at the Afghan…
DUBAI: Qatar’s foreign minister said on Monday the Gulf state has urged Afghanistan’s new Taliban rulers to respect women’s rights and that it was still too early to consider recognising their government. Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani was speaking in a joint news conference with French foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian in Doha. Le Drian said dozens of French nationals are still in Afghanistan and Paris is working with Qatar to evacuate them. “We have…
No one in the Iranian government was sad to see U.S. and NATO troops leave Afgh-anistan. In fact, Tehran would prefer to have the Taliban next-door than often-hostile Western powers. But Shiite-majority Iran has also been a target of attacks in the past from the Sunni Islamist Taliban, and it worries that if Afghani-stan descends into chaos, it could negatively affect Iran’s ability to exert influence and trade with its neighbor—or worse, that the volatility…
The Taliban have urged the international community to recognise them and re-open embassies in Kabul. An inclusive arrangement in this context would require strategies from within Afghanistan as well as sources outside such as the UN Security Council. There is a need to review the conflict in Afghanistan for the last 40 years and what has been the impact of the War on Terror, which has recently ended after 20 years of its savage and…