By RFE/RL’s Radio Free Afghanistan June 22, 2016 Afghan officials said on June 22 that the Taliban has freed 23 men who were kidnapped a day earlier by militants in southern Afghanistan. Omar Zwak, a spokesman for Helmand’s governor, said representatives of the governor’s office worked with tribal elders to intervene and “negotiated the issue
Press TV June 22, 2016 Iran’s mission to the United Nations has expressed concern over a rise in the activities of the Takfiri Daesh terrorist group in neighboring Afghanistan. Gholam-Hossein Dehqani, Iran’s deputy ambassador to the UN, called attention to a United Nations report which has found that armed conflict in Afghanistan currently stands at its highest level since 2001.
VOA News Ayaz Gul June 21, 2016 ISLAMABAD—Afghanistan’s Taliban claimed responsibility for taking 27 passengers hostage in the south of the country Tuesday in a latest incident of mass kidnapping. The early morning abductions happened in restive Helmand province, where Afghan security forces have been battling the insurgents to reverse recent battlefield losses. Heavily armed
Khaama Press: The Hezb-e-Islami party led by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar has reportedly issued new impossible-to-meet demands to sign a peace agreement with the Afghan government. An official privy to the development has told The Associated Press that the new demands include cancellation of pacts with the United States, a timetable for the withdrawal of foreign troops and that
Xinhua: “I hate poppies and the drug trade but poverty and my dire need for money have forced me into this lucrative business and I can earn a relatively good income and support my family from farming the plant,” a farmer in the southern Kandahar province, Sadiq Agha, 55, told Xinhua recently. Click here to read
Tolo News: Close to 99 percent of former Hindu and Sikh citizens of Afghanistan have left the country over the past three decades. The main reasons behind their departure include religious discrimination and the government’s neglect of the minority group, during Taliban era in particular. Click here to read more (external link).
Tolo News: Reports from Pakistan indicate that the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa federal government in Pakistan has allocated Rs300 million Pakistani rupees (over $2.8 million USD) to a madrassa known as the University of Jihad. The madrassa has top Afghan Taliban leaders among its graduates, including the group’s supreme leader Mullah Omar, who was announced dead in July last year.
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty June 20, 2016 Pakistani and Afghan diplomats met in Islamabad on June 20 to discuss deadly border clashes but failed to reach an agreement about managing their border. The talks between Pakistan’s Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry and a six-member Afghan delegation, led by Afghan Deputy Foreign Minister Hekmat Khalil Karzai,
VOA News Ayaz Gul June 20, 2016 ISLAMABAD—Pakistan in talks with Afghanistan has reiterated that “effective management” of their shared border is vital for efforts aimed at countering terrorism, promoting peace and strengthening bilateral relations. A six-member Afghan delegation led by Deputy Foreign Minister Hekmat Khalil Karzai visited Islamabad Monday for talks with Pakistani counterparts.
Tolo News: “Up to 600 cases of violence against women have been registered across the country. The majority of the cases are physical assault and family violence,” Minister of Women Affairs Dilbar Nazari said. “To eliminate violence, we need to expand cooperation between the ministries of Women Affairs, Hajj and Religious Affairs and of Education. The ministries