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 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,
Ayaz Gul VOA News January 3, 2024 ISLAMABAD — A high-powered delegation from Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban held crucial talks with Pakistan officials Wednesday in a bid to ease tensions stemming from a surge in deadly cross-border attacks blamed on terrorists based on Afghan soil. Officials said Mullah Shirin Akhund, an influential Taliban leader, led his team
Ayaz Gul VOA News December 30, 2023 ISLAMABAD — Pakistan’s military said Saturday its forces had raided a “terrorist” hideout in a volatile region bordering Afghanistan and killed five militants in the ensuing shootout. The “intelligence-based” overnight raid in the militancy-hit North Waziristan district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province also killed a key militant commander involved in
8am: Yesterday, the Pakistan Institute for Peace Studies (PIPS) published a report, probing the security situation in Pakistan and specifically the number of suicide attacks in the country in 2023… This report and several other reports, including the report dated May 31, 2023, of the same organization, presented that after the Taliban took control of
Ayaz Gul VOA News December 20, 2023 ISLAMABAD — The United States has again denied leaving any weapons in Afghanistan during the American military’s withdrawal from the country in August 2021, dismissing such allegations as “farce.” John Kirby, U.S. National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications, made the comments Tuesday just days after Pakistan urged the
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
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