Khaama Press: Former Afghan President Hamid Karzai has said the so-called Durand Line will never be recognised as [the] official border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. Speaking during an event in Kabul, Karzai said the line has remained a controversial issue between the two nations for many years, imposed by outsiders. Karzai further that Afghanistan’s reluctance to
Ayaz Gul VOA News December 22, 2016 ISLAMABAD — Pakistan has decided to issue entry visas to Afghan nationals who want to visit the country for medical treatment. Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan announced the decision this week during a visit to the northwestern Torkham border crossing where he inaugurated new immigration facilities. Despite prevailing
Asia Times: Pakistan’s interest in Central Asia sharply increased after the Soviet Union collapse. General Naseerullah Babar, who was central to Pakistan’s attempts to navigate these newly available potential economic opportunities, while negating the military dimension of ‘strategic depth’, said in an interview, that “the talk about strategic depth is nonsense … We realized that Afghanistan
Ayaz Gul VOA News December 17, 2016 ISLAMABAD — Russia, Pakistan and China will hold the next round of three-way counterterrorism talks in Moscow December 27, primarily focusing on turmoil-hit Afghanistan. Russian Ambassador to Islamabad Alexey Dedov disclosed the details in an interview to state-run Pakistani radio. This will be the third meeting of the “trilateral
VOA News December 15, 2016 The Pakistan prime minister’s foreign policy aide tells VOA that Pakistan-India relations are “passing through a difficult phase” and that Islamabad would be open to offers of assistance regarding talks with New Delhi, including from the incoming Trump administration. Late last month, President-elect Donald Trump and Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty December 12, 2016 Pakistan has named a new head of its military Inter-Services Intelligence agency (ISI). The Pakistani military said in a statement on December 11 that Lieutenant General Naveed Mukhtar was appointed as director-general of the ISI, replacing Lieutenant General Rizwan Akhtar. The move comes two weeks after the chief
Ayaz Gul VOA News December 11, 2016 ISLAMABAD — A top Pakistan Foreign Ministry official has said that “some” members of the terrorist Haqqani network are present in the country, but Islamabad is not allowing any group to conduct terrorist activities in Afghanistan. Foreign Secretary Aizaz Chaudhry has made the rare admission in an interview to
Tolo News: The Afghan Ministry of Interior and Afghan analysts on Saturday said Pakistan should be pressurized further by the United States in order to step up the anti-terror mission inside Pakistani soil – instead of paying the country a package of at least $1 billion in aid. Click here to read more (external link). Related
Ayesha Tanzeem VOA News December 6, 2016 ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN — Tensions between India and Pakistan are spoiling efforts to try to tackle the region’s security problems, as the nuclear-armed neighbors have difficulty finding issues on which they can work together. A regional conference that India recently hosted on Afghanistan fell hostage to a “[b]lame game, rather
Anjana Pasricha VOA News December 4, 2016 NEW DELHI, INDIA — Afghan President Ashraf Ghani told an international conference held in the northern Indian city of Amritsar that the Taliban insurgency in his country would not survive without support from Pakistan and called for the setting up of a fund to combat extremism. Referring to an