RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi RFE/RL’s Radio Mashaal January 16, 2024 Taliban and Pakistani officials have failed to agree on reopening the busiest border crossing between Afghanistan and Pakistan following its closure last week after Islamabad imposed a requirement for passports and visas for Afghan drivers. “Yesterday, our meeting with the Pakistani border officials ended without bearing
Khaama: The Torkham border crossing between Afghanistan and Pakistan has been closed for three days in a row, causing prices of vegetables and fruits to rise in Afghan markets. Traders say the closure has resulted in significant financial losses for businesses on both sides, estimated in the hundreds of millions of dollars .This crossing was
By RFE/RL’s Radio Mashaal January 13, 2024 Hundreds of trucks and other cargo vehicles have been stranded at the Torkham border crossing between Afghanistan and Pakistan after Pakistan implemented a requirement for passports and valid visas for Afghan drivers beginning early on January 13. A countermove by authorities of the Taliban-led Afghan government appears to be compounding the
Ayaz Gul VOA News January 12, 2024 ISLAMABAD — Officials in Pakistan have cautioned that relentless cross-border militancy is testing bilateral relations with Afghanistan’s Taliban and could eventually push Islamabad to scale back support for the de facto Kabul rulers. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Baluchistan provinces, both lining Pakistan’s 2,600-kilometer (1,600-mile) border with Afghanistan, have experienced almost
Khaama: Sources have confirmed that Maulana Fazlur Rehman, the leader of Pakistan’s Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, had a meeting with Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada, the leader of the Taliban. According to the source from the Interior Ministry, who requested not to be named, Maulana Fazlur Rehman expressed his desire for a meeting with Mullah Hibatullah as soon as
Foreign Affairs: How Islamabad’s Expulsions of Afghans Could Backfire—and Help the Taliban… Although Pakistan has reason to be angry with its Afghan Taliban allies, the country’s terror problem is the direct result of its military’s decision to differentiate between the “good” Afghan Taliban and the “bad” Pakistani Taliban, overlooking their inextricable connections. The policy aimed
RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi RFE/RL’s Radio Mashaal January 8, 2024 A senior Pakistani Islamist politician has met top Taliban leaders in Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, in an attempt to revive ties between the two neighbors. The January 8 meeting involving Maulana Fazlur Rehman, leader of the Jamiat Ulema-e Islam Pakistan (JUI) political party, hoped to improve ties
Ayaz Gul VOA News January 8, 2024 ISLAMABAD — Authorities in northwestern Pakistan said Monday that at least six police officers were killed and nearly two dozen injured when a roadside bomb struck their truck in a remote region bordering Afghanistan. The officers were traveling to Bajaur, a militancy-hit border district, to escort anti-polio workers on
By RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi January 5, 2024 Iran said it is shutting its vast borders with neighboring Afghanistan and Pakistan to increase security after the twin bombing that killed at least 89 people in the southeastern city of Kerman on January 3. The Iran Students News Agency (ISNA) quoted Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi as saying his government was
By RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi January 4, 2024 Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry says 541,000 Afghans have left for Afghanistan as Islamabad’s campaign to repatriate some 1.7 million “undocumented foreigners” continues, despite international concerns for their safety and means to shelter upon their return. Since its push began in October, Pakistan has extended a December deadline to February 29,