VOA News Ayaz Gul May 9, 2016 ISLAMABAD—Officials in Afghanistan say the State Department designated terrorist group, the al-Qaida linked Haqqani network, has effectively taken over battlefield command of the Taliban insurgency. Haqqani militants allegedly operate from sanctuaries in neighboring Pakistan and are known for staging high-profile suicide assaults on Afghan and international forces. “The
AP via Stars and Stripes: A shadowy, Pakistan-based militant faction is on the rise within the Taliban after its leader was appointed deputy and played a key role in unifying the fractured insurgency. The ascendency of the Haqqani network, a U.S.-designated terrorist organization, could significantly strengthen the Taliban and herald another summer of fierce fighting in
VOA News Ayaz Gul May 7, 2016 ISLAMABAD—Pakistan has “greater control” over the Taliban than the Afghan government “initially thought,” but contrary to its public assurances, Islamabad has never intended to bring the insurgency to peace talks with Kabul, allege senior Afghan officials. “In fact Pakistan’s old policy vis-a-vis Afghanistan that was claimed to be
VOA News Ayaz Gul May 3, 2016 ISLAMABAD—Pakistan is rejecting Afghan demands for military action against Taliban commanders within Pakistan and emphasizes the need to continue talks for a settlement to the conflict in Afghanistan. In Islamabad Tuesday, Pakistani foreign policy adviser Sartaj Aziz dismissed demands by Afghan President Ashraf Ghani that Pakistan evict Taliban
VOA News Ayaz Gul April 25, 2016 ISLAMABAD—A group of Taliban negotiators has arrived in Pakistan from the Islamist insurgency’s political office in Qatar for “exploratory” meetings with authorities in Islamabad, diplomatic sources confirmed Monday to VOA. The visit of the three-member Taliban delegation is part of efforts that Pakistan is “cautiously” making to facilitate
VOA News Ayaz Gul April 25, 2016 ISLAMABAD—Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has demanded neighboring Pakistan evict fugitive Taliban leaders from its soil and hand them over to Kabul for trial. In a hard-hitting speech to a rare joint session of parliament Monday, Ghani said Pakistani leaders promised they would use force against Taliban leaders who
VOA News Ayaz Gul April 20, 2016 ISLAMABAD—Afghan officials said the death toll from Tuesday’s Taliban suicide attack in Kabul has risen to at least 64, adding another 347 people were injured. The latest casualty figures indicate the Tuesday attack was the deadliest insurgent strike in the Afghan capital since the Taliban was ousted from
VOA News Ayaz Gul April 15, 2016 ISLAMABAD—Pakistan on Friday rejected as “preposterous” allegations that its spy agency had links with the Haqqani network of militants and played a role in the 2009 suicide attack on a CIA base in eastern Afghanistan. A newly declassified U.S. document says an officer of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence, or ISI,
1TV: Pakistan’s Inter-Service Intelligence directorate funded Haqqani Network with 200,000 dollars to attack a CIA base in Afghanistan in 2009, according to recently revealed U.S. State Department documents. The suicide attack on Camp Chapman in Afghanistan’s eastern Khost province was one of the worst attacks in CIA history. Seven American intelligence officers were killed in that
ASADABAD, Afghanistan, April 13 (Xinhua) — Taliban group as part of its yearly spring offensive launched coordinated attacks on several districts of Kunar province in eastern Afghanistan Wednesday morning but fled the area after leaving 13 bodies behind, provincial police chief Abdul Habib Sayedkhil said. “Taliban fighters launched coordinated attacks on security checkpoints in Shigal,