Mohammad Habibzada VOA News June 10, 2018 Hopes for direct peace talks are high in Afghanistan after the Taliban agreed to a unilateral cease-fire from the Afghan government. A former high-ranking Taliban official said the temporary peace deal could be extended and efforts for direct peace talks could be made. “It is even possible the
Al Jazeera (Ahmed Rashid): It appears that pressure from Pakistan on the Taliban Shura which largely resides in the Pakistani border town of Quetta has been instrumental in pushing the Taliban to agree to a ceasefire. According to Lisa Curtis, deputy assistant to US President Donald Trump, Washington has been pursuing “multiple lines of effort” for bringing peace to Afghanistan
Ayaz Gul VOA News June 9, 2018 ISLAMABAD — The Taliban announced Saturday it will halt offensive operations against government security forces across Afghanistan during three-day festivities of Eid al Fitr, which marks the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. The cease-fire coincides with the unilateral weeklong halting of anti-Taliban operations by the Afghan
Ayaz Gul VOA News June 8, 2018 ISLAMABAD — The United States has confirmed it is asking Pakistan for help in facilitating the Afghan government’s direct peace talks with the Taliban insurgency. After months of strained relations and disruption in high-level mutual contacts, U.S. Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo this week
Ayaz Gul VOA News June 7, 2018 ISLAMABAD — The United States appears to be easing public pressure on Pakistan in a bid to encourage the country to help promote peace and reconciliation with the Taliban to bring an end to the war in Afghanistan. The optimism, analysts say, stemmed from Wednesday’s rare telephone conversation U.S.
Press TV June 6, 2018 Authorities in Pakistan’s northwestern tribal region have expanded a 24-hour curfew to avert further clashes between tribesmen and militants. An unnamed senior government official in the city of Peshawar said on Wednesday that the curfew had been “tightened and extended” to the entire South Waziristan region along the Afghan border.
The National Interest: Some South Asia observers have argued that the Trump administration’s decision to exit the Iran nuclear deal will hurt U.S. efforts to stabilize Afghanistan. Their reasoning: it reduces the viability of the Iranian port of Chabahar, which India aims to use as an alternate gateway to Afghanistan, bypassing the land corridor through Pakistan.
Press TV June 4, 2018 Several Pashtun ethnic activists have been killed in an attack by the Taliban and a following police operation in Pakistan’s border region of South Waziristan. Local sources in Wana, the main administrative center for South Waziristan, said two Pashtuns had been killed and 25 others injured on Sunday after the
Ayaz Gul VOA News June 3, 2018 ISLAMABAD — Pakistan says at least six militants were killed and five soldiers wounded in shootouts along the troubled border with Afghanistan. A military statement noted that in the past 24 hours “terrorists” from the Afghan side have staged repeated “fire raids and physical attacks” on Pakistani outposts and
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty May 31, 2018 Pakistani President Mamnoon Hussain has signed legislation that merges the country’s tribal regions with the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province and therefore grants some 5 million people in the regions the same rights as other Pakistanis. Hussain signed the law in Islamabad on May 31. The bill had previously been