Michael Hughes: The rulers in Kabul from an “official” perspective have a level of plausible deniability with respect to the recent attack on a military barracks in northwest Pakistan. That is, as of now, there is no direct evidence the current de facto Afghan government was involved in the attack’s planning, resourcing, and/or execution. The
Ariana: There is a crisis in relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan, and to preclude further escalation including a direct conflict, Islamabad and Kabul should consider negotiating an agreement, Zalmay Khalilzad, former US special envoy for Afghanistan reconciliation, said on Friday. He added that the Doha agreement did not deal directly with the challenge of terror
Ayaz Gul VOA News December 14, 2023 ISLAMABAD — Pakistan urged Afghanistan’s Taliban government Thursday to take decisive action against “terrorist entities” on its soil and extradite fugitive militant leaders allegedly responsible for plotting this week’s deadly assault on a Pakistani military base. “We have noted the statement by the Afghan interim government that it will
VOA News Akmal Dawi December 13, 2023 Pakistan’s army chief is in Washington this week seeking U.S. assistance against what Islamabad alleges are terrorist havens in neighboring Afghanistan. General Asim Munir is trying to convince U.S. security and defense officials that militant groups such as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Islamic State’s Khorasan offshoot (IS-K) pose
Sarah Zaman VOA News December 12, 2023 ISLAMABAD — An early morning militant attack in Pakistan’s northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province killed 23 troops Tuesday. The attack occurred in Daraban, a remote area in the militancy-hit district of Dera Ismail Khan near Pakistan’s tribal districts bordering Afghanistan. Inter Services Public Relations or ISPR, the Pakistani military’s media
Sarah Zaman VOA News December 5, 2023 ISLAMABAD — A roadside blast caused by a remote-controlled improvised explosive device, or IED, wounded seven people Tuesday, including four children in Peshawar, the capital of Pakistan’s northern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. According to area police, a preliminary investigation of the site found that 4 kilograms of explosives were
By Abubakar Siddique Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty November 28, 2023 Pakistan has issued an ultimatum to the Afghan Taliban: Expel the Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) extremist group from Afghanistan or face the consequences. Pakistan’s special representative for Afghanistan, Asif Durrani, repeated the warning on November 11, saying that the Afghan extremist group must “choose Pakistan or the TTP.”
Ayaz Gul VOA News November 27, 2023 ISLAMABAD — Pakistan confirmed Monday that an overnight suicide bombing of a military convoy in a northwestern region had killed two civilians. The military’s media wing reported that Sunday’s attack in Bannu, a garrison district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, had also injured seven civilians and three soldiers. The army
Ayaz Gul VOA News November 14, 2023 ISLAMABAD — An independent assessment commissioned by the United Nations has linked recognition of the Taliban government to compliance with Afghanistan’s international treaty obligations and commitments, requiring it to immediately remove sweeping curbs on women’s rights to education and employment opportunities. “Any formal re-integration of Afghanistan into global institutions
Ariana: While claiming that thousands of TTP members have taken sanctuary in Afghanistan, Pakistan’s special envoy to Afghanistan, Asif Durrani, has said that peace in the neighboring country has become a nightmare for Pakistan. Speaking in an interview with Ambassadors’ Lounge, Durrani said that there are around 6,000 TTP members in Afghanistan, and counting their