Ariana: More than 250,000 Afghans seeking asylum have arrived in Pakistan since January 2021, according to the UN refugee agency. Qaiser Khan Afridi, a spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Pakistan, has said that Pakistan is facing new inflows of asylum seekers from Afghanistan after the Islamic Emirate’s [Taliban] takeover of Kabul.
RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi, RFE/RL’s Radio Mashaal June 14, 2022 Farhad Salehi, a resident of the western Herat Province, has been chasing a Pakistani visa for weeks. Like hundreds of thousands of his compatriots, he wants to escape the uncertainty brought on by the economic collapse that followed the Taliban’s seizure of power last year. He
By Abubakar Siddique Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty June 8, 2022 Lawyer Fazal Khan says he feels furious following Pakistan’s ongoing peace negotiations with the hard-line militant group Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP). His eldest son, eighth-grader Sahibzada Omar Khan, was killed in the TTP’s most horrific attack. On December 16, 2014, a group of TTP militants stormed
Ayaz Gul VOA News June 7, 2022 Germany urged the global community Tuesday to collectively tell Afghanistan’s Islamist Taliban rulers that they “are heading in the wrong direction” and called for strictly linking any economic aid for the war-torn country to the human rights of Afghans. “The situation is dire and the Taliban are leading
Michael Hughes: Islamabad had waited patiently for more than two decades for the Taliban to recapture Kabul and ensure Afghanistan would serve as “strategic depth” if Pakistan needed territory and resources in a war against India. The Pakistanis assumed the Taliban regime would take a hostile posture toward New Delhi, especially given India’s past support
RFE/RL’s Radio Mashaal Abubakar Siddique June 3, 2022 PESHAWAR, Pakistan — Zaryali is among the hundreds of Afghan musicians who have fled to neighboring Pakistan since the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan. Soon after seizing power in August, the Taliban outlawed music and footage emerged of its fighters publicly beating and humiliating musicians and burning their instruments. The
Ayaz Gul VOA News June 3, 2022 ISLAMABAD — A new United Nations-supported survey has concluded that 1.3 million Afghan refugees are residing in neighboring Pakistan, about 100,000 fewer than the figure officially used until now. An official statement said Friday the government had completed the survey, officially known as the Documentation Renewal and Information Verification
Ariana: According to a directive of the Ministry of Finance, coal trucks will no longer be allowed to pass through Torkham customs and will have to use alternate routes. The move was taken to avoid spoilage of fresh fruits and traffic congestion on highway, the ministry said. Click here to read more (external link).
Ayaz Gul VOA News May 30, 2022 ISLAMABAD — Pakistan’s direct peace talks with an outlawed alliance of insurgent groups, being mediated and hosted by Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers, have reportedly made progress, with both sides agreeing to pause the process for internal deliberations and return to the negotiating table by mid-June. The several days of discussions
By RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi May 27, 2022 The Taliban has tried to stem the flow of Afghans attempting to escape economic ruin and persecution. But, despite an official ban, the smuggling of undocumented migrants to neighboring Iran and Pakistan continues to rise with the help of Taliban border guards and officials willing to look the other