A US drone killed al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri at a house in Kabul, where he had been living with his family, on Saturday.
"Now, our 20-year military presence in Afghanistan has ended," he said, thanking armed forces for their execution of the dangerous retrograde from Afghanistan as scheduled -- in the early hours of Tuesday (August 31) -- with no further loss of American lives.
'It was a mission undertaken in darkness in every sense -- literally, because Afghanistan had no electricity at that time; and, metaphorically because Delhi historically dealt only with the Pashtuns of Afghanistan and the foreign ministry's vast archives had nothing to offer on the culture and politics of the northern tribes in the Hindu Kush.'
'The worst case scenario for Pakistan is a full-scale Taliban takeover of Afghanistan.' 'Pakistani militants would be inspired and emboldened and seek to replicate the Taliban's successes in Pakistan.'
In a veiled reference to Pakistan, India said perpetrators of violence in Afghanistan must not be allowed safe havens in its neighbourhood, as it slammed the United Nations Security Council's sanctions regime for not designating the leader of Taliban as terrorist, calling such an approach a "mystery."
The Biden Administration on Monday said it was now focused on completing its evacuation mission from Afghanistan by August 31, the deadline for removing all American troops from the country.
All the four gunmen, who had stormed the Indian consulate in Afghanistan's Herat province early on Friday, have been gunned down, Indo-Tibetan Border Police chief Subhas Goswami said.
Internal strife and tribalism is endemic to Afghanistan, notes Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday chose Lt Gen Asim Munir as the new Army chief to replace incumbent General Qamar Javed Bajwa.
Nuclear powered India and Pakistan are constantly skirmishing in Kashmir, the outgoing US National Security Advisor, Susan Rice, said identifying some of the Russian actions, Syria along with North Korea and South Asia or a pandemic flu as some of the less probable but catastrophic scenarios globally.
Danish Siddiqui, in his early 40s, was killed during clashes in Spin Boldak district in Kandahar, Tolo News quoted sources as saying.
The days of a thousand cuts are over. These mini wars will remain under the threshold of undeniable war, but will escalate closer to that threshold when their big brother pushes in. Chinese aggression has changed the matrix, the strategies, and surely the objectives too, warns David Devadas.
'It was always anticipated that the return of the Taliban would embolden armed Islamists including anti-India groups like the Lashkar and Jaish.'
Reports said the massive blast smashed windows of the buildings nearby and a huge plume of smoke could be seen spiralling over the high-security area.
The United States has announced the end of its 20-year-old war in Afghanistan as the last American military flight flew out of the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul shortly before the August 31 deadline.
Taliban failed to honour Doha accord, never renounced Al-Qaeda: US general Mark Milley
China on Friday expressed shock at the deadly suicide attacks at Kabul airport, saying the security situation in Afghanistan remained "complicated and severe" and that Beijing will work with the international community to cope with terrorist threats and prevent the war-ravaged country from becoming a hotbed of terrorism.
After two decades, the SCO appears to be at a cross-roads with the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, asserts Srikanth Kondapalli, the leading China expert.
"Every action we take will be designed to ensure our military is ready to fight today and in the future," Mattis said on Friday in a message to department of defense soon after he was being sworn in as head of the Pentagon by Vice President Mike Pence at the White House.
Blinkin said the US will engage with the Taliban not on the basis of what a Taliban-led government says, but what it does to live up to its commitments.
The Taliban have the ISIS in its crosshairs. The Taliban has shown the skill to assimilate extremist elements if they are reconcilable as well as the ruthlessness to eliminate troublemakers, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar
The Islamic State has emerged as the most potent terrorist threat globally but in the Afghan-Pak region the space is dominated by other terrorist groups like Taliban, Haqqani network and Lashkar-e-Tayiba, America's top spymaster has said.
India needs to shed its policy of lethargy and inhibitions to engage the Taliban with an intent to maintain its influence in Afghanistan. This would not just put a spanner in Pakistani designs, but also incentivise the Taliban not to be the puppets of GHQ, Rawalpindi, asserts Colonel Nikhil Apte (retd), who served on the Af-Pak desk at the Military Operations Directorate.
The resolution, which was passed unanimously, would extend the NATO led force's area of operations to several provinces which are now ruled by armed warlords.
Specially designated global terrorist Sirajuddin Haqqani, who carries a reward of $10 million US bounty on his head, is the acting interior minister while his uncle -- Khalil Haqqani -- has been named as acting minister for refugees.
As Ashraf Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah form a joint government after contesting the presidential election against each other, Prakash Bhandari reports from Kabul on the problems facing the new, US-brokered arrangement.
'Whatever comes in the minds of the Pakistani generals and Pakistan military, they just go for it.' 'They do not care about the consequences for their country or the consequences to the people of Pakistan.'
'Afghanistan cannot be at peace until the Pashtuns regain their pre-eminent role in the country's governance,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
She also hit out at the Centre alleging that while the Government of India was expressing concern for the rights of people in Afghanistan, the same were denied to Kashmiris.
The man said he and his family was in a panic after the Taliban entered Kabul and his daughter was running a high fever.
Siddiqui's body was taken to the graveyard where it was buried around 10.15 pm. There was a sea of mourners at the burial site to pay their respects.
So far, almost every positive development in terms of the bilateral ties has been overtaken by innate hostility that is often driven by popular sentiments.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, who was on a visit to the US last month, said that America's relationship with Pakistan has "not served" either of the two countries and raised questions on the Biden administration's approval of a USD 450-million sustenance package for the F-16 fleet.
The US military efforts in Afghanistan were akin to filling a bucket that had gaping holes, asserts Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
The people cited above said the Indians were taken away for questioning and it is not unusual under the current circumstances.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in the 2020 Country Reports on Terrorism issued on Thursday, said that regionally, terrorist groups continued to operate from Pakistan.
In his address at a ministerial meeting of the SCO in Moscow in the Russian capital, Singh also referred to the Second World War and said its memories teach the globe the 'follies of aggression' of one state upon another that brings 'destruction' to all.
The two leaders also took positive note of the growing bilateral cooperation in defence, counter-terrorism and energy, besides the co-ordination on regional and global issues, the officials said.
Protests broke out in some states on Friday, including Delhi's Jama Masjid and stone-petling at policemen in Uttar Pradesh's Prayagraj and Saharanpur, over the controversial remarks on Prophet Muhammad by two now-suspended Bharatiya Janata Party functionaries with demonstrators in Jharkhand injuring a few policemen while authorities in Jammu imposed a curfew in few areas and parts of Kashmir observed a shutdown.
Sukanya Verma gives us a lowdown on all those wonderful movies she saw and movies you need to see as and when they arrive to a screen or streaming space near you.
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