KABUL: At least 11 Afghan civilians were killed and 64 wounded in two provinces of Afghanistan on Saturday, as fighting raged and street battles continued in several cities, multiple sources said. There are also reports that Taliban have taken control of the city of Sheberghan in the northern Afghan province of Jawzjan. The Taliban took control … Read more
KABUL: Fighting in Afghanistan has further intensified as the Taliban militants have been mounting pressure on big cities and the government forces have been fighting back to foil the militants’ attempts to enter any city. The Taliban group, which has reportedly captured some 200 districts since the start of the withdrawal of US-led foreign forces … Read more
The United Nations has expressed deep concern for the safety and protection of the people in Lashkar Gah, capital of Afghanistan’s Helmand province, who could be trapped by fighting between government forces and the Taliban, said a UN spokesman. Taliban fighters have moved in on three provincial capitals in the last few days and seized … Read more
JALALABAD/KABUL: Two Afghan soldiers and at least 36 Taliban militants were killed and 52 militants wounded after the government forces repelled a predawn attack in the country’s eastern province of Nangarhar, a provincial government spokesman confirmed on Thursday. The clashes erupted as hundreds of Taliban militants armed with guns and heavy weapons, including rocket propelled … Read more
KABUL: A blast near the office of Afghanistan’s main security agency in Kabul wounded three people on Wednesday hours after a bomb and gun attack on a minister’s compound brought surging Taliban violence to the capital. At least two people were wounded in an explosion near defence facilities in Kabul National Directorate of Security, police … Read more
UNITED NATIONS: The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) has called for an immediate end to fighting in urban areas, as the Taliban continues a ground assault in the south of the country. UNAMA said civilians are bearing the brunt of the violence as fighting enters cities, according to a post on its official Twitter … Read more
The United States said on Monday it was ready to take in thousands more Afghans whose the United States links put them at risk from the Taliban as Western troops leave, but the asylum-seekers will face an arduous journey to safety. The State Department has increased the eligibility of refugee admissions beyond the roughly 20,000 … Read more
KABUL: At least 100 Taliban militants were killed and about 90 others wounded during Afghan government security forces’ separate offensives on Thursday, multiple sources confirmed on Friday. In western Herat province, 52 Taliban militants were killed and 47 wounded when Afghan security forces backed by local Public Uprising Forces repulsed Taliban’s attacks on the outskirts … Read more
In Afghanistan, the Taliban are advancing and in such a situation, the number of Afghan refugees arriving in Turkey from Afghanistan is increasing. Turkey is already hosting millions of refugees and is tightening its grip on the government’s refugee strategy. Videos have gone viral on social media in Turkey showing Afghan refugees allegedly travelling in … Read more
China told a visiting Taliban delegation on Wednesday it expected the insurgent group to play an important role in ending Afghanistan’s war and rebuilding the country, the Chinese foreign ministry said. According to Reuters, nine Taliban representatives met Foreign Minister Wang Yi in the northern Chinese city of Tianjin on a two-day visit during which … Read more
Deeming negotiated settlement to be the only solution for the Afghan conflict, Prime Minister Imran Khan remarked that the ‘US has really messed it up in Afghanistan’. In an interview with Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) ‘Newshour’ on Tuesday, a primetime television programme, the premier emphasized that the best choice was a negotiated political settlement to … Read more
Afghan authorities have arrested four journalists who entered Spin Boldak in the southern province of Kandahar on charges of spreading propaganda. According to the details, clashes continue between security forces and Taliban fighters in Spin Boldak. The move by Afghan officials has drawn strong criticism from the media and NGO representatives, although the government has … Read more
NATO Chief Jen Stoltenberg reiterated his call on Tuesday for a ‘negotiated settlement’ with Taliban in Afghanistan. “The security situation in Afghanistan remains deeply challenging, and requires a negotiated settlement,” he said in a tweet after speaking with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani. https://twitter.com/jensstoltenberg/status/1419941139331915776 Stoltenberg further said that NATO will continue to support Afghanistan with funding, … Read more
ISLAMABAD: National Security Adviser Moeed Yusuf on Saturday categorically said that relations with India could only improve if New Delhi takes concrete steps to reverse the situation on the ground in the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) and stops sponsoring terrorism against Pakistan. In an interview to prominent Indian journalist Karan Thapar, Yusuf … Read more
UNITED NATIONS: A recent United Nations report that focused on the global threat posed by al-Qaeda, Da’esh and related groups, yet again, drew attention to the increasing Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) cross-border terrorist threat to Pakistan from the Afghan soil, analysts said. The 28th report of the UN Monitoring Team submitted to the UN Security Council … Read more
An explosion in a crowded market in the Sadr City neighborhood of Baghdad on Monday has exterminated at least 28 people and injured dozens, stated police and hospital sources. The state news agency said an explosive device had been ignited. Women and children were amongst the dead and some shops had seared down, a police … Read more
Pakistan on Monday welcomed the ongoing engagement between the two Afghan sides in Doha deeming it ‘a positive development’. “Pakistan believes that there is no military solution to the Afghan conflict and that a negotiated political settlement through Afghan-owned and Afghan-led process is the only way forward,” a statement released by the Foreign Office said. … Read more
Pakistan is being a target of hybrid warfare, National Security Advisor Moeed Yusuf said on Monday. Flanked by the Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and Inspector General of Police (IGP) Islamabad Qazi Jameelur Rehman, the NSA made these remarks during a press briefing on the alleged abduction of Afghan ambassador’s daughter. The statement comes hours … Read more
Clashes broke out between Taliban fighters and Afghan forces to retake control of Spin Boldak, an area bordering Pakistan. Clashes between the Taliban and Afghan forces in Afghanistan’s Spin Boldak have intensified in the past week, according to the report. The group has also seized key border crossings in the north and west. Violent clashes … Read more
Representatives of the Afghan government and the Taliban met in Doha for talks on Saturday, AFP correspondents said, as violence rages in the country with foreign forces almost entirely withdrawn. The two sides have been meeting on and off for months in the Qatari capital, but the talks have lost momentum as the insurgents have … Read more
Prime Minister Imran Khan on Friday called upon the European Union and the international community to support Pakistan in the rehabilitation of Afghan refugees. The prime minister, in his meeting with European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice President of the European Commission Josep Borrell, stressed that the conflict could … Read more
The Afghan Peace Conference which was scheduled to be held in Islamabad from July 17-19 has been postponed until after Eidul Azha. Foreign Office, in a statement, said that new dates for the conference will be announced soon. The development comes after a delegation-level talk was held between Pakistan and Afghanistan on the sidelines of … Read more
Danish Siddiqui, a leading Pulitzer Prize-winning Indian photojournalist, was killed in a clash between the Afghan army and the Taliban in Kandahar. He was affiliated with the news agency Reuters. Danish Siddiqui was staying with Afghan forces and providing photos and information about the ongoing fighting there. According to reports, when the Taliban targeted the … Read more
Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said on Friday that Pakistan will continue to play its reconciliatory role for peace in Afghanistan. Talking to US Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad on the sidelines of International Conference on South Asia-Central Asia Regional Connectivity-Challenges and Opportunities in Tashkent on Friday, the foreign minister said Afghanis have … Read more
Foreign Office Spokesperson Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri confirmed that a two-day peace conference on Afghanistan will be held in Islamabad on Saturday. Responding to a host of questions during his weekly news briefing in Islamabad on Thursday, he said delegations from Afghanistan will start arriving in Pakistan from Friday. “Peace in Afghanistan is in Pakistan’s interest … Read more
Afghan security forces have retaken control of the Spin Boldak-Chaman border with Pakistan that the Taliban briefly captured, a senior Afghan government official told Reuters on Thursday, but the Taliban dismissed that saying they still held the town. Taliban fighters captured the Spin Boldak-Chaman border crossing on Wednesday, the second most important crossing on the … Read more
Prime Minister Imran Khan telephoned former Afghan President Hamid Karzai and invited him to attend an international conference on Afghanistan with his Pakistani counterpart. According to the report, in a tweet, Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry said that the Prime Minister had assured Hamid Karzai that Pakistan would do its utmost to restore peace in the … Read more
The Taliban has warned Turkey against expanding its presence in Afghanistan after the withdrawal of US troops, saying the decision was “reprehensible”. The Taliban said in a statement that the decision “contains the wrong advice and violates our sovereignty, territorial integrity as well as national interests,” according to the international news agency AFP. The Taliban’s … Read more
