Michael Hughes: Recent efforts to jumpstart a dialogue between the U.S. and Pakistan seem futile given the duo’s irreconcilable differences – especially in two key areas. The U.S. wants Pakistan to hand over the Haqqani Network and other Afghan Taliban while Islamabad would like Washington to dial down its love affair with India. However, it is
Ayaz Gul VOA News / November 30, 2017 ISLAMABAD — Pakistan says high-level discussions “away from public glare” are under way with the United States to bridge differences stemming from the new Afghan strategy U.S. President Donald Trump announced in August. Pakistan did not agree with the U.S. policy because “there was a difference in understanding
Ayaz Gul VOA News / November 29, 2017 ISLAMABAD — Just days before U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis is scheduled to visit Pakistan for crucial talks, the top American general in Afghanistan has alleged the Pakistani spy agency continues to maintain ties with the Haqqani terrorist network and allows Taliban leaders to operate out of havens
Ayaz Gul VOA News November 7, 2017 ISLAMABAD — NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Taliban bases in Pakistan pose a “big challenge” to efforts aimed at bringing peace and stability to Afghanistan. Stoltenberg told reporters Tuesday at the alliance’s headquarters in Brussels that he regularly raises the issue in meetings with Pakistani leaders and will continue
Ayaz Gul VOA News November 6, 2017 ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN — The United States has called on Pakistan to show “equal diligence” in fighting all terrorist groups operating in the country, including the Haqqani network, and cautioned bilateral relations are at a “critical juncture.” U.S. Ambassador David Hale spoke at a seminar in Islamabad Monday as he
Ayaz Gul VOA News October 26, 2017 ISLAMABAD — America’s security “failures” in Afghanistan are evident from events of the week when visiting Secretary of State Rex Tillerson could not move out of a U.S. military base and invited Afghan leaders to his “bunker” for talks, neighboring Pakistan said Thursday. “This situation tells the whole story
VOA News / October 19, 2017 Ayaz Gul ANGOOR ADDA, PAKISTAN — Pakistan’s military is installing a robust fence along its largely porous 2,600-kilometer border with Afghanistan and establishing new forts as well as outposts on mountain peaks. Officials hope the fortification plan of hundreds of millions of dollars will effectively prevent militant infiltration and stabilize
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty October 15, 2017 Afghan authorities say they have foiled a potentially deadly blast in the capital, Kabul, after seizing a truck loaded with explosives. The Interior Ministry said on October 15 that police officers shot and wounded the driver of the vehicle after he failed to stop at a security checkpoint.
VOA News / October 15, 2017 ISLAMABAD — Officials in Pakistan say a roadside bomb attack Sunday killed at least four soldiers and wounded several others near the Afghan border. The troops were part of a search party deployed in the Kurram tribal district to hunt down the handlers of a kidnapped American-Canadian family Pakistani forces
VOA News / October 14, 2017 A kidnapped American-Canadian couple and their three children have returned to Canada, after enduring five years as captives of the Taliban-linked Haqqani network in Afghanistan. The family landed in Toronto late Friday aboard an Air Canada flight from London. Caitlan Coleman, a U.S. citizen, and her Canadian husband, Joshua