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Posts tagged as “Kabul”

Muttaqi, Durrani Discuss Joint Committee to Solve Kabul-Islamabad Tensions

By Fatema Adeeb in ToloNews, Sept 22, 2023 at 10:23 PMThe acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi, in a meeting with Asif Ali Durrani, Pakistan’s special representative for Afghanistan, who was on a visit to Kabul, discussed issues related to security and the formation of a joint committee to address problems between Kabul and Islamabad. Deputy Foreign Ministry spokesman Hafiz Zia Ahmad Takal said on X that they had a “detailed” discussion over security, the…

Kabul govt cracks down on TTP; 70 militants held

by Mateen Haider in The Nation, Sept 19, 2023ISLAMABAD – After Pakistan’s pres­sure to take action against TTP militants involved in the attack on Pakistani border posts in Chitral, Afghan Tali­ban authorities have or­dered operation against TTP hideouts in Kunar. As many as 70 mili­tants affiliated with the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pa­kistan (TTP), among them 15 who sustained injuries in exchange of fire, have been arrest­ed during the ongoing operation. Last week Pakistan’s charge d’af­faires had met…

Kabul Only Banned ‘Specific Secular Liberal Education’: UK Cleric

By Nazir Shinwari in ToloNews, Sept 17, 2023 at 8:07 PMShaykh Hamid Mahmood, a member of the delegation of British religious scholars who recently came to Kabul, said that all girls go to schools up to age 10 or 11 in Afghanistan and girls can continue education in specific subjects and he added that education has not completely stopped. Shaykh Hamid said: “It’s a temporary suspension not on education, temporary suspension on specific secular liberal…

US to conduct new interviews on deadly Kabul bombing

AFP Report, Sept 17, 2023WASHINGTON: The United States said Friday it will interview more witnesses of a suicide bombing that killed scores of people — among them 13 US troops — during the withdrawal from Afghanistan. A US investigation concluded that the August 26, 2021 Abbey Gate bombing in Kabul could not have been prevented, but Republican lawmakers have piled pressure on President Joe Biden’s administration over both the attack and the chaotic nature of…

China continues Taliban balancing act after new ambassador arrives in Afghanistan

by Shi Jiangtao in SCMP, Sept 16, 2023China’s new ambassador to Afghanistan, Zhao Xing, presented his credentials at a grand ceremony in Kabul on Wednesday, becoming the first foreign envoy to take up their post since the Taliban retook power in August 2021. While the Taliban – which has not been officially recognised by any foreign government – hailed Zhao’s arrival as “the beginning of a new chapter”, the Chinese foreign ministry sought to play…

US pullout from Kabul strengthened IS: ex-Centcom chief

by Anwar Iqbal in Dawn, Sept 13th, 2023WASHINGTON: The militant Islamic State group (IS) has become a more enduring threat than Al Qaeda after the US withdrawal from Afghanis­tan, Gen Kenneth Frank McKenzie, former head of the US Central Command, said in television interviews last week. Gen Erik Kurilla, the curr­ent Centcom chief, had voiced similar apprehensions in a rec­ent interview, saying that the IS could carry out an “external operation” against the United States…

Kabul can’t build posts on Pakistani soil: FO

by Iftikhar A. Khan | Ibrahim Shinwari in Dawn, Sept 12th, 2023ISLAMABAD / KHYBER: As the Torkham border remained shut for a sixth consecutive day, with loaded vehicles seen parked along the roadside for several kilometres on the Torkham-Peshawar highway, Pakistan regretted the attempt by the Taliban-led interim government of Afghanistan to intrude on its territory by building an unlawful structure, and urged the neighbour to respect its sovereignty. On September 6, Afghan troops resorted…

FM eats own words on TTP’s Chitral incursion, confirms demarche to Kabul

by Kamran Yousuf in The Express Tribune, Sept 10, 2023ISLAMABAD: Interim Foreign Minister Jalil Abbas Jilani on Saturday confirmed that Pakistan lodged a strong protest with the Afghan government over the recent cross-border attack in Chitral, urging Kabul not to allow its soil for such terrorist incidents. Jilani, who was addressing a news conference after the meeting of the apex committee or the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC), told the media that the Afghan chargé…

Chitral incursion

Editorial in Dawn, Sept 8th, 2023TWO cross-border infiltration attempts by militants, as well as tensions at the Torkham frontier, point to the disturbing reality that both on the security front and where bilateral ties are concerned, Pak-Afghan relations are going through a highly dysfunctional phase. Though bilateral ties with Kabul have never been tension-free, some within our ruling structure had great expectations that an Afghan Taliban dispensation across the western border would benefit Pakistan. That…

After Clashes at Torkham, Kabul Calls for Dialogue to Solve Tensions

By Shamsurrahman Khpalwak in ToloNews, Sept 7, 2023 at 8:34 PMThe Islamic Emirate’s spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, said that one of Islamic Emirate soldiers was killed and two others were injured as a result of yesterday’s clashes at the Torkham crossing between the Pakistani military and the Islamic Emirate forces. Mujahid did not address the cause of the clashes, but he emphasized that tensions should be solved through dialogue. “We ask the Pakistani side to be…

After Clashes at Torkham, Kabul Calls for Dialogue to Solve Tensions

By Shamsurrahman Khpalwak in ToloNews, Sept 7, 2023 at 8:34 PMThe Islamic Emirate’s spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, said that one of Islamic Emirate soldiers was killed and two others were injured as a result of yesterday’s clashes at the Torkham crossing between the Pakistani military and the Islamic Emirate forces. Mujahid did not address the cause of the clashes, but he emphasized that tensions should be solved through dialogue. “We ask the Pakistani side to be…