VOA News January 13, 2018 Hasib Danish Alikozai Mohammad Habibzada WASHINGTON — An Afghan defense official told VOA that the recent spike in violence in Afghanistan is not the work of the Islamic State terror group. Rather the Pakistan-based Haqqani network is behind the attacks, he said. General Mohammad Radmanesh, a spokesperson for the Afghan Ministry
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty January 13, 2018 U.S. forces killed 10 insurgents in a compound in eastern Afghanistan in an air strike that was triggered by an insider attack on U.S. and Afghan soldiers, the U.S. military said on January 12. U.S. Navy Captain Tom Gresback said the insurgents baited a coalition team, inviting them
Press TV January 12, 2018 Pakistan’s army chief has slammed the United States for President Donald Trump’s chastising remarks against Pakistan’s leaders over their effort to fight terrorism. Pakistani Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa told US Central Command Chief General Joseph Votel on the phone that the “entire Pakistani nation felt betrayed over US recent statements” after Trump said
Press TV January 11, 2018 Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has granted clemency to 75 prisoners loyal to former warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar who reached a landmark peace deal with the government in Kabul in 2016. According to Shah Mir Amirpoor, the press officer at the Pul-e-Charkhi detention center east of Kabul, the inmates were released on
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty January 11, 2018 An Afghan media watchdog says that 2017 was the “bloodiest” year ever for journalists and other media personnel working in Afghanistan, with the Taliban and Islamic State (IS) militant groups being blamed for much of the violence. The Afghan Journalists Safety Committee (AJSC) said in a report released on January
Carla Babb VOA News January 11, 2018 PENTAGON — U.S. military commanders are investigating a video that appears to show an American service member firing into the cab of a civilian truck in Afghanistan, an action one U.S. official told VOA appeared to be “deeply troubling.” “There is an investigation underway,” Resolute Support spokesman Army Lt.
VOA News January 10, 2018 GHAZNI, AFGHANISTAN/WASHINGTON — Armed men claiming to be Islamic State members have threatened residents of central Ghazni province, Afghanistan, to cease their support for the Taliban and join IS, according to a provincial official. Khan Elham, chief of the Qara Bagh district of Ghazni province, told VOA that IS members hand-delivered
Press TV January 9, 2018 A Pakistani court has ordered the release of an anti-US cleric amid growing tensions between Islamabad and Washington over the so-called war on terror and a range of other issues. Defense lawyer Fida Gul said Sufi Mohammad was set free on health grounds and the paperwork for his release was still
Ayaz Gul VOA News January 8, 2018 ISLAMABAD — A new report has documented an “alarming” increase in the Islamic State footprint in Pakistan, saying it adds to the challenges facing the country’s decade-long campaign against terrorism and religious extremism. The annual report, published by the independent Pakistan Institute for Peace Studies, or PIPS, registered 370
Khalil Noorzai Habibzada Mohammad VOA News January 7, 2018 Airstrikes on narcotics processing labs may be forcing the Taliban to seek new ways to finance their insurgency in southern Afghanistan. Taliban officials say they have established a new customs house in the Delaram district of southern Nimruz province in the southwestern part of Afghanistan. The