Michael Hughes: Afghanistan’s High Peace Council (HPC) is tasked with trying to budge the country towards some kind of peace process with a headless Taliban movement while the body faces an existential struggle against Afghan lawmakers. Moreover, President Ashraf Ghani believes negotiations must start not with the Taliban but with the group’s benefactors, although that is
Ayaz Gul VOA News July 15, 2017 ISLAMABAD — Pakistan says it finds it necessary to build a fence along its long porous border with Afghanistan, in part because of a lack of cooperation from authorities in Kabul. The border region has long been a source of instability, with militant groups, terrorists and smugglers using the
The New York Times: President Trump’s advisers recruited two businessmen who profited from military contracting to devise alternatives to the Pentagon’s plan to send thousands of additional troops to Afghanistan, reflecting the Trump administration’s struggle to define its strategy for dealing with a war now 16 years old. Click here to read more (external link). More
VOA News / July 8, 2017 Paul Alexander Noor Zahid WASHINGTON — Once a key ally in the U.S. war on terrorism, Pakistan finds itself increasingly isolated from Washington amid allegations that it harbors more than a dozen terrorist groups. Instead, it has been steadily cozying up to China and Russia. Both of America’s primary rivals
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty July 5, 2017 Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif arrived in Dushanbe on July 5 for a two-day official visit to Tajikistan. Tajik Prime Minister Qohir Rasulzoda and other government officials met Sharif at Dushanbe International Airport upon his arrival. Sharif also was scheduled to meet on July 6 with Tajik President
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty July 3, 2017 Influential U.S. Senator John McCain (Republican-Arizona) says peace in Afghanistan or elsewhere in the region is not possible without the involvement of Pakistan. McCain, a former U.S. presidential candidate, said on July 2 during a visit to Islamabad that “we will not have peace in the region without
Press TV July 2, 2017 Pakistan’s military has begun erecting fencing along the country’s porous border with Afghanistan in order to stop cross-border infiltration and improve security in the region. According to a high-ranking Pakistani security official, in the first phase, at least 43 border posts have been constructed in the northwestern tribal region along the border. Sixty-three
VOA News / June 24, 2017 Ayaz Gul ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN — China has formally initiated a mediation bid to ease Afghanistan’s tensions with Pakistan and to encourage the two uneasy neighbors to jointly work for countering terrorism and promoting regional peace. Beijing’s diplomatic offensive comes as relations between Islamabad and Kabul have deteriorated in the past
VOA News / June 24, 2017 WASHINGTON — The U.S. special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan has stepped down. Laurel Miller left the office Friday without a replacement being named. The departure of the special envoy comes at the same time the U.S. is preparing to send thousands more troops to Afghanistan in its continued fight
Anjana Pasricha VOA News June 21, 2017 NEW DELHI — Although Afghan businesses have long wanted to exploit the potential of India’s huge market, trade between the two countries has been hampered due to their tense relations with Pakistan. But a plane loaded in Kabul with 60 tons of medicinal plants landed in New Delhi this