Tolo News: A 15-member Taliban team that the National Directorate of Security claims was formed to carry out assassinations has revealed during an investigation that they received training in Pakistan, the NDS said. Members of the group, who were captured by Afghan intelligence agency two days ago, confessed in the initial rounds of interrogation that
The Print: Pakistan is key to get the stalled Afghan-Taliban talks back on keel. PM Modi knows India must bide its time. Abdullah knows, as do Ghani and the rest of Afghanistan, that if the Taliban is back to the negotiating table after so many years, it is the Pakistanis who have nudged them. That
Michael Hughes: Pakistani officials recently had a golden opportunity to provide Afghan counterparts a glimmer of hope that a ceasefire with the Taliban was a possibility. A gesture of any sort would have been uplifting, considering the militant group has shown no signs that they will let up on their offensives inside Afghanistan, despite the
Stars and Stripes: A military program that gave troops advising and language training in an effort to develop cultural experts in Central Asia shut down Wednesday, the Pentagon said. The Afghanistan-Pakistan Hands program closed after more than a decade of training advisers in languages such as Dari, Pashto or Urdu, said Richard Osial, spokesman for
By Ayesha Tanzeem VOA News September 30, 2020 ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN – The man heading Afghanistan’s peace efforts said Iran did not attend the ceremony marking the opening of talks with the Taliban due to tensions with the United States. “Iran was invited…Sometimes their relations with the United States which [are] under a lot of tension at
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty September 30, 2020 Afghanistan’s top peace negotiator says Afghanistan and Pakistan are on the threshold of a new relationship characterized by “mutual respect, sincere cooperation, and shared prosperity.” Abdullah Abdullah, who is on a bridge-building mission to Pakistan, said the neighboring countries should shun the suspicion, rhetoric, and conspiracy theories that
By Ayesha Tanzeem VOA News September 29, 2020 ISLAMABAD – Afghanistan’s senior leadership has told its team in Doha to be flexible in negotiating with the Taliban in order to seize the opportunity to end the country’s conflict, according to Abdullah Abdullah, the chairman of the High Council for National Reconciliation. “We’ve asked our own delegation,
By Reid Standish September 28, 2020 Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty China is cautiously increasing its role in South Asia by rejuvenating economic interests in Pakistan and forging closer ties to Afghanistan with peace talks between Afghan officials and the Taliban under way. The enhanced footprint for Beijing in the region comes amid a flurry of activity
Ayaz Gul VOA News September 28,2020 ISLAMABAD – Abdullah Abdullah, the head of Afghanistan’s peacemaking High Council for National Reconciliation, has begun a three-day official visit to Pakistan. Abdullah is undertaking his first visit to the neighboring country in more than a decade amid peace negotiations between representatives of the Afghan government and Taliban insurgents underway in Qatar. Officials in Islamabad said
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty September 26, 2020 Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. envoy for Afghanistan, has predicted the Taliban will not accept a permanent truce until a political deal is reached with the Afghan government. “I think you’re right that the Talibs will not accept a cease-fire, comprehensive and permanent, until there’s a political settlement,” Khalilzad said