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
VOA News October 13, 2017 ISLAMABAD — An American-Canadian couple and their three children left Pakistan for U.K. on Friday after five years in Taliban captivity in Afghanistan. Acting on a tip from U.S. intelligence, Pakistani officials say their troops rescued U.S. national Caitlan Coleman and her Canadian husband, Joshua Boyle, on Wednesday hours after their
VOA News October 12, 2017 ISLAMABAD — Pakistan’s military has rescued a U.S.-Canadian family from a tribal region bordering Afghanistan, nearly five years after they were abducted by militants. U.S. national Caitlan Coleman and her Canadian husband Joshua Boyle went missing in Afghanistan in 2012 and the Afghan Taliban later claimed responsibility for kidnapping them. The
Press TV / October 11, 2017 The four-nation Quadrilateral Coordination Group (QGC), comprising Afghanistan, China, Pakistan and the United States, are expected to hold a meeting in Oman next week to revive stalled peace talks involving the Taliban militant group. A senior Pakistani Foreign Ministry official confirmed on Wednesday that the meeting would be convened in
VOA News / October 10, 2017 ISLAMABAD — The Taliban’s stance of not engaging in peace talks with the current Afghan government “remains unchanged” and the insurgent group has “nothing to do” with next week’s four-nation dialogue in Oman aimed at seeking a politically negotiated end to the war, a senior insurgent official said Tuesday. Negotiators
Tolo News: Kandahar’s police chief General Abdul Raziq said that Taliban leader Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada visited Helmand a week and a half ago where he met with Taliban members. Raziq said that the visit had been at the request of Pakistan’s intelligence services, ISI. According to him, the Taliban leader visited Mosa Qala in Helmand after
VOA News October 6, 2017 Daniel Schearf Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif says other countries in the region may be able to sway the Taliban into peace talks better than Islamabad, including Russia. “At least for our influence on Taliban today, there is a mistrust … perhaps they have more influence from other countries
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty October 6, 2017 The U.S. Defense Department says the military’s response to the hurricane that hit Puerto Rico is delaying the deployment of forces to Afghanistan and other missions throughout the world. Lieutenant General Kenneth McKenzie, director of the U.S. military’s Joint Staff, told reporters on October 5 that the military
Press TV / October 5, 2017 Former Afghan President Hamid Karzai has lambasted the United States’ new policy toward his country, saying it carries a “message of war and bloodshed” in the region. Karzai made the remarks in an interview with the BBC Urdu on Wednesday, adding he believed that Washington’s new policy “has some
VOA News / October 3, 2017 Carla Babb WASHINGTON — Afghanistan security forces are fully engaged in offensive combat operations for the first time in their war against al-Qaida and Taliban militants, U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Tuesday. “For the first time in 16 years, we have all six Afghan army corps on the offensive