By RFE/RL’s Kyrgyz Service July 9, 2020 Turkish authorities have moved the Fourth World Nomad Games to 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic. The games, an international competition dedicated to ethnic sports, were scheduled to be held in the Turkish city of Bursa in autumn this year. The President of the Turkey-based World Ethnosport Confederation, Bilal Erdogan, said
Ayaz Gul VOA News March 2, 2020 ISLAMABAD – Pakistan has temporarily closed a key southwestern crossing point with Afghanistan, saying the move is meant to prevent the spread of coronavirus on both sides of the border. An official announcement Monday said the Chaman crossing in Baluchistan province was being shut for “an initial period
Ayaz Gul VOA News February 6, 2020 ISLAMABAD – Afghan President Ashraf Ghani laid foundation stone Thursday for building a key transmission line linking Central Asia and South Asia under a four-nation electricity generation project, known as CASA-1000. The $1.2 billion plan aims to bring some 300 megawatts (MW) annually of much-needed electricity to Afghanistan
Press TV December 18, 2019 Security chiefs of Iran and Russia have warned about the deliberate relocation of remnants of the Daesh Takfiri terror group from their former Middle East bastions to Afghanistan. Ali Shamkhani, Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, and Nikolai Patrushev, Secretary of the Russian Federation Security Council, made the remarks
Michael Hughes: It is quite baffling to continually hear American military leaders say U.S. troops must remain in Afghanistan to ensure the country will never again be used as a terrorist launching pad given that it is already is. For, despite years of airstrikes and counter-terror operations, the local franchise known as the Islamic State Khorasan
1TV: “We have recorded a surge in activity of ISIS units in Afghanistan, united in the so-called Wilayah Khorasan,” Alexander Bortnikov said at the Council of the Heads of Security Agencies and Intelligence Services of the Central Asian states. Due to their looming defeat in Syria and Iraq, international terrorist organizations are hastily withdrawing their remaining forces
By Bruce Pannier Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty November 6, 2019 A deadly attack on a Tajik border post reported early on November 6 is disturbing for many reasons, including the fact Tajik officials are blaming the so-called Islamic State (IS) militant group for the assault that authorities say left at least two security servicemen and 15
By Bruce Pannier Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty October 25, 2019 A new proposal by Pakistani officials could bring much needed energy to people in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan during the frigid winters in a long-planned project that will also see Central Asian energy go to Afghanistan and Pakistan. A chain of hydropower plants strung across Tajikistan
Bruce Pannier Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty August 24, 2019 Fostering peace is a complicated process, and Uzbekistan just received a strong hint that best intentions can be interpreted as unwanted actions. Tashkent is trying to help promote peace in Afghanistan. Other parties are too, but the outcome of events in Afghanistan has a direct bearing
By Farangis Najibullah Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty August 12, 2019 A little-known, 31-year-old Tajik man who grew up in a Dushanbe suburb has emerged as a unit leader of the Islamic State (IS) affiliate in Afghanistan as the extremist group tries to expand its footprint in the war-torn country. A recent report by the UN