Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty September 13, 2020 Qatar’s ruler helped launch the second day of long-awaited Afghan peace talks in Doha on September 13 between representatives of the Afghan government and Taliban militants, but reports of ongoing clashes back in Afghanistan were a reminder of obstacles ahead. The first day included a formal ceremony and
Ayaz Gul VOA News September 12, 2020 ISLAMABAD – The United States pressed Afghanistan’s warring factions Saturday to approach their first-ever direct peace talks with an intent to strike a power-sharing deal that would accommodate “competing views” and permanently end decades of bloodshed in the country. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made the remarks
By Frud Bezhan Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty September 10, 2020 Abdul Hakim Ishaqzai spent years lying low in Pakistan’s southwestern city of Quetta, where the Afghan Taliban leadership has been based since the U.S.-led invasion in 2001 toppled the extremist group from power in neighboring Afghanistan. A hard-line cleric, Ishaqzai until recently ran an Islamic madrasah,
By Frud Bezhan Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty August 27, 2020 Mohammad Yaqoob was virtually unknown five years ago when the Taliban disclosed the mysterious death of his father and its founder, Mullah Mohammad Omar. The Taliban acknowledged that its spiritual leader had been dead for more than two years, soon after Afghan intelligence said he had
Ayaz Gul VOA News August 26, 2020 ISLAMABAD – Pakistan said Tuesday it was “hopeful” about prospects of U.S.-backed peace talks between Afghanistan’s warring parties to end the country’s long conflict. The optimism stemmed from a meeting Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi held Tuesday with a visiting Afghan Taliban delegation led by the insurgent
RFE/RL’s Radio Mashaal August 24, 2020 A Taliban political team arrived in Pakistan on August 24 amid ongoing efforts to start negotiations between the Afghan government and the militants. The talks, envisaged under a landmark peace agreement signed in February between Washington and the Taliban, had been expected to start earlier this month but were stymied by
Ayaz Gul VOA News August 21, 2020 ISLAMABAD – Pakistan has issued an order for full compliance with U.N. Security Council sanctions against Afghanistan’s Taliban and groups associated with the Islamist insurgency. The directives are contained in a “statutory notification” (SRO) that was published by the foreign ministry on its website earlier in the week
Ariana: The Taliban’s political chief, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, warned on Sunday that the group “would make the necessary decisions” if the US failed to leave Afghanistan within the timeline agreed to earlier this year. In an interview with Iran’s Tasnim news agency, Baradar said the US-Taliban agreement, signed earlier this year in Doha, stipulated
By Ayaz Gul VOA News June 30,2020 ISLAMABAD – The Taliban said Tuesday its political chief in a video call with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has reassured him the Islamist insurgency does not allow anyone to use Afghanistan to plot attacks against other nations. Pompeo’s contact with Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, head of the
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty June 8, 2020 The U.S. special envoy for Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, has held a new round of talks in Qatar with the Taliban’s political chief. Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, a spokesman for the militants, said on Twitter late on June 7 that Khalilzad and Baradar discussed the release of prisoners and the start