by Kamran Yousuf in The Express Tribune, Nov 9, 20223ISLAMABAD: In a major policy shift, Pakistan has decided not to advocate the Afghan Taliban’s case at the international level or extend any other assistance following failure of the Kabul authorities to neutralise the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). At the same time, Islamabad will no longer extend any “special privileges” to the interim Afghan Taliban government in a move that suggests deterioration in relations between the…
Posts tagged as “Taliban”
By Fidel Rahmati in Khaama Press Online, November 7, 2023The Foreign Ministry of Afghanistan has appointed a diplomat for the Afghan embassy in Tajikistan. The Ministry has recently issued a letter, and Afghanistan International has reported that it designates Faizullah as the First Secretary of the embassy. Based on this written communication, the Taliban has promised to also pay the unpaid salaries of Afghan embassy staff in Tajikistan for the past six months. Tajikistan has…
by Touqir Hussain Tin Dawn, November 7th, 2023he writer, a former ambassador, is adjunct professor Georgetown University and Visiting Senior Research Fellow, National University of Singapore.PAKISTAN and Afghanistan have always had a complex relationship that has been mishandled by both sides. Each has expected the other to make up for the failure of its own policies, has sought solutions that were worse than the problem, and has become friendly with the other’s enemies. Pakistan needs…
By Fidel Rahmati in The Khaama Press Online, November 5, 2023Iran’s IRNA news agency has reported that the Ministry of Intelligence of the country, in collaboration with the Taliban administration, has apprehended three Israeli intelligence operatives (Mossad) who were planning to launch suicide drones towards Iran at the Afghanistan-Iran border. This Iranian media outlet reported the detention of these three individuals on Sunday and added that the detained individuals have been transferred to Iran. According…
AFP report, Nov 6, 2023KABUL: Poppy cultivation and opium production have plunged 95 per cent in Afghanistan since Taliban authorities banned the crop, according to a UN report published on Sunday.Since returning to power in 2021, Taliban authorities have vowed to end illegal drug production in Afghanistan and in April 2022 banned the cultivation of the poppy plant, from which opium and heroin are made. The report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and…
By Fidel Rahmati in The Khaama Press Online, November 1, 2023The Interim government of Afghanistan has condemned the mass expulsion of Afghan refugees from Pakistan, calling it “inhumane.” They have warned that if the Pakistani government does not address this issue, they will be forced to take action in response. Shir Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Taliban administration, in his latest statements regarding Pakistan, has issued a warning and…
Reuters in The Express Tribune, Oct 31st, 2023.KARACHI: As the clock ticked down to the Nov. 1 deadline Pakistan set for undocumented migrants to leave the country, Muhammad Rahim boarded a bus from Karachi to the Afghan border. “We’d live here our whole life if they didn’t send us back,” said the 35-year-old Afghan national, who was born in Pakistan, married a Pakistani woman and raised his Pakistan-born children in the port city – but…
By Fidel Rahmati in The Khaama Press Online, October 22, 2023Several protesting women demanded the immediate release of Julia Parsi, Neda Parwani, Matiullah Wesa, and Rasoul Parsi, who are currently held captive by the Taliban, in a public statement. The “Women’s Protest Movement for Freedom” considers women and civil activists imprisoned by the Taliban as part of their “repressive policies.” These protesting women gathered at a discreet location in Kabul on Saturday and called on…
By Fidel Rahmaati in The Khaama Press Online, October 22, 2023Aladdin Orphanage, a part of the government-run housing institution designed primarily to accommodate orphaned girls and children, has been transformed into a religious school following the resurgence of the Taliban. Salma, a recent graduate from the orphanage, told the Khaama Press News Agency that approximately 48 girls reside in this facility. According to Salma, at least 25 of them are younger girls from the sixth…
by Kamran Yousaf . in The Express Tribune, Oct 23, 2023ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has allayed concerns of the Western nations over its plan to evict all foreigners living illegally in the country after some states feared that deportees might face reprisals from the Afghan Taliban government. Official sources told The Express Tribune that after Pakistan’s crackdown against illegal immigrants, Western countries approached the government seeking clarity with certain nations seeking review of the decision. Pakistan has…
by Dewey Sim in SCMP, Oct 27, 2023All eyes were on high-profile guest Russian President Vladimir Putin when China recently hosted the belt and road forum. However, away from the spotlight, there were others present – rarely seen on the diplomatic stage but vital to Chinese geopolitical and regional interests. One such was Haji Nooruddin Azizi, acting commerce minister of the Taliban, the militant group running Afghanistan and yet to be recognised as a legitimate…