Michael Hughes: There is little mystery over who is responsible for this week’s terrorist attack in Kabul, which Afghan intelligence officials have blamed on their Pakistani counterparts. The true dilemma lies in figuring out what is driving Pakistan’s calculus this time. The strategic depth doctrine is always at play which calls for “keeping the pot boiling”
Press TV June 2, 2017 Afghan riot police have reportedly shot dead eight protesters amid clashes during an anti-government demonstration in Kabul two days after a huge truck bomb claimed 90 lives in a high security diplomatic area in the heart of the capital. Some 1,000 demonstrators marched on Friday towards the site of Wednesday’s bombing
VOA News June 1, 2017 Ayaz Gul ISLAMABAD — Afghanistan Thursday mourned the victims of a massive truck bomb that blew up Wednesday in the diplomatic section of the country’s capital, killing at least 90 people and wounding more than 400 others. The bomb ripped through the central Wazir Akbar Khan area of Kabul, home to
VOA News June 1, 2017 **Update** Ayaz Gul ISLAMABAD — A massive truck bomb exploded Wednesday morning in the diplomatic section of Afghanistan’s capital, killing at least 90 people and wounding more than 400. The bomb ripped through the central Wazir Akbar Khan area of Kabul, home to foreign diplomatic missions and government offices, damaging dozens
The Guardian (UK): When Radio Shaista goes silent, you know the Taliban are close. The female-run radio station was looted and wrecked when the group captured Kunduz, Afghanistan’s embattled northern city, in 2015, sending journalists fleeing. Even after the Taliban were routed, female journalists have been on guard, if they ever returned, that is. Zarghoona Hassan,
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty May 31, 2017 Gunmen in northwestern Pakistan on May 30 gunned down a close aide and relative of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, an Afghan militant leader who signed a peace deal with the government last year, officials said. Hekmatyar’s Hezb-i Islami party identified the slain man as Mohammad Fareed and blamed “elements against
Press TV May 30, 2017 The US Air Force has tripled the number of airstrikes across Afghanistan since last year, according to a spokesman for US and NATO forces in the country. The US military carried out nearly 900 airstrikes against purported Daesh (ISIL) and Taliban positions across Afghan territories between January and April this
Al Jazeera: Zubair Massoud, the nephew of Ahmed Shah Massoud, is the adviser to the Afghan National Security Council. He sees the recent influx of ISIL fighters as a major threat to Afghanistan and its neighbouring countries. “The terrorists you see in Syria are the same individuals that are here now in Afghanistan. These are terrorists
HERAT, Afghanistan, May 29 (Xinhua) — Commander of 207th Zafar Army Corps in west Afghanistan, General Nasir Hedayat on Monday termed Taliban spring offensive as failed one and said that the security forces had defeated Taliban militants in the western region. “The Taliban so-called annual spring offensive dubbed ‘Mansoori’ has been foiled as the armed
VOA News / May 28, 2017 Ayaz Gul ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN — A Taliban infiltrator has gunned down six government forces in southern Afghanistan, raising the number of army and police personnel killed by insurgents in the past week to nearly 100. Afghan and insurgent officials said Sunday the overnight “insider attack” incident took place at a