Ron Synovitz Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty December 25, 2021 The chaotic withdrawal of U.S. and NATO forces from Afghanistan and the lightning collapse of the internationally recognized government in Kabul in August spelled the end of the West’s nearly 20-year foothold in the war-torn country. Now, with the Taliban back in control of Afghanistan, other
Ariana: Members of the Haqqani family and Paktia residents have laid the first foundation stone for a new madrassa, that will be named after the network’s founding father Mawlawi Jalaluddin Haqqani. The religious studies school will be built on four acres of land in Gardez city in Paktia province and is being sponsored by local
WSJ: Undercover Taliban agents—often clean-shaven, dressed in jeans and sporting sunglasses—spent years infiltrating Afghan government ministries, universities, businesses and aid organizations. Then, as U.S. forces were completing their withdrawal in August, these operatives stepped out of the shadows in Kabul and other big cities across Afghanistan, surprising their neighbors and colleagues. Pulling their weapons from
Ariana: Alam Gul Haqqani, head of the General Directorate of Passports, said late Monday in a video message that processing of passports at the office in Kabul has been suspended until further notice. He attributed the decision to a technical problem – specifically with the biometric system. Click here to read more (external link).
By Abubakar Siddique Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty November 4, 2021 During its 20-year insurgency, the Taliban employed suicide bombers as a lethal tool to kill foreign and Afghan government troops and terrorize the civilian population. Even now, as the Taliban attempts to transform from an insurgency into a government, its contingent of trained suicide bombers
By Daud Khattak Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty November 3, 2021 Pakistan is holding secret talks with the Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) extremist group over a cease-fire, sources have told RFE/RL’s Radio Mashaal. That is despite the TTP, also known as the Pakistani Taliban, publicly denying a claim by Islamabad last month that the sides were in
Michael Scollon Mustafa Sarwar Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty October 26, 2021 The Taliban has been criticized for including some notoriously shady characters in Afghanistan’s acting government, perhaps none more than Sirajuddin Haqqani, a designated terrorist last photographed hiding behind a plant. In his first public appearance since he was named the Taliban’s interior minister in
By RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi October 19, 2021 The Taliban’s acting interior minister, Sirajuddin Haqqani, a wanted global terrorist and one of the country’s most senior officials, has praised suicide attackers and promised their relatives money and land. Haqqani, the leader of the notorious Haqqani network and listed as a terrorist by the United States with a
By Abubakar Siddique Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty October 7, 2021 On October 7, 2001, the United States began bombing Taliban-ruled Afghanistan in a retaliatory military campaign against Al-Qaeda for orchestrating the 9/11 attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people. Twenty years later and nearly two months after Washington ended its war in Afghanistan, Al-Qaeda is down but
Radio Mashaal October 1, 2021 The banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has rejected claims by Pakistan’s prime minister that the government is holding talks with the militant group to reach a cease-fire. Prime Minister Imran Khan told Turkish television channel TRT World in an interview on October 1 that “we are in talks with some Taliban