Ariana: The United States and its allies are making pretexts for resuming their military presence in Afghanistan, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said. Speaking at the Second Minsk International Conference on Eurasian Security in Minsk, Lavrov said that the US and its allies are trying to destablize the situation in Afghanistan. Earlier, Lavrov had said
Michael Hughes: Afghanistan’s trade with Pakistan has plummeted since the rise of the Taliban 2.0 regime, driven by political rows and security issues, and to compensate Kabul is hoping to enhance commerce with Iran, India, and neighbors across Central Asia. Tensions between Afghanistan and Pakistan have resulted in closure of trade routes and stiff tariffs
Afghanistan International: Abbas Stanikzai, the Taliban’s deputy foreign minister, expressed concern regarding the problems in exporting Afghan traders’ products and threatened Pakistan that it will close the Central Asian route for Pakistani goods. Stanikzai said at a meeting in Logar province on Wednesday that they face problems at the borders when Afghanistan’s crops come to
James Durso: Ahmad Massoud, the leader of the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan, recently declared he will defeat the Taliban “no matter the odds.” For Massoud to mount a military threat to the Taliban, he would need the cooperation of the Central Asian republics, Iran or Pakistan (among others) to do the job. However, Afghanistan’s
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Farangis Najibullah Khursand Khurramov September 22, 2024 Central Asian countries are taking steps to broaden relations with their southern neighbor, the Taliban-led Afghanistan, despite the hard-line group’s increasingly restrictive policies, particularly toward women. Kyrgyzstan removed the Taliban from its list of terrorist organizations earlier this month, Turkmenistan resumed work with Afghanistan
By Navbahor Imamova VOA News September 18, 2024 Termez, Uzbekistan — Afghans longing for closer connections with the outside world are finding an outlet in the border city of Termez, where neighboring Uzbekistan invites them to visit a new international trade center aimed at boosting regional trade and creating business opportunities. “It’s uplifting to be here, as
8am: One analysis suggests that given the developments in the Russia-Ukraine war, Western powers, especially the U.S., may be seeking to exploit al-Qaeda and other Central Asian militant groups to undermine Russian interests. After the September 11 attacks, the U.S. significantly weakened al-Qaeda and eliminated many of its senior leaders, but it either did not
Ayaz Gul VOA News September 11, 2024 ISLAMABAD — Taliban-ruled Afghanistan and neighboring Turkmenistan on Wednesday marked the resumption of work on a long-delayed gas pipeline designed to run through the two countries, Pakistan and India. The estimated $10 billion Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India, or TAPI, project is designed to annually transport up to 33 billion cubic meters of
By Masood Farivar VOA News September 7, 2024 Washington — Shunned by the West for over three years, Afghanistan’s Taliban scored a diplomatic victory of sorts this week when the small Central Asian nation of Kyrgyzstan quietly removed the group from its list of banned terrorist organizations. The move underscores warming ties between the Taliban, in
Michael Hughes: The CIA claims it established a back channel with the Taliban to cooperate on operations against anti-Western terrorist groups, while suggesting dire warnings of Afghanistan becoming a terrorist sanctuary are overblown. The narrative has been spun harder recently, undeniably for political purposes ahead of a presidential election, but the covert agency’s assertions are