The Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan has said it will continue carrying out suicide attacks and targetting Pakistani security forces despite joining other militant groups in a pledge not to kill innocent people or to resort to kidnappings for ransom.
China on Monday expressed the hope that the Taliban will stand by its commitment of establishing an "open and inclusive" Islamic government in Afghanistan and will ensure a peaceful transition of power without violence and terrorism.
A top United Nations official has blamed Pakistan of blocking reconciliation efforts with the Taliban by arresting several top extremist commanders.Admitting that there were secret negotiations going on with the Afghan Taliban, former UN envoy to Afghanistan Kai Eide criticised Pakistan for the arrests of high-profile Taliban leaders, including the second-in command Mullah Ghani Baradar, which he said has 'completely stopped a channel of secret communications with the UN'.
Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Monday dismissed a report that the Inter-Services Intelligence agency is funding, training and guiding the Taliban in Afghanistan as "rubbish", saying Talibanisation is not good for both countries.
In a major success, a top militant commander considered to be a close aide of elusive Afghan Taliban chief Mullah Mohhamad Omar was captured from Pakistan's port city of Karachi.Mullah Baradar was captured from Karachi in a joint raid by personnel of the Inter-Services intelligence and the Central Intelligence Agency. But Taliban spokesperson Zabiullah Mujahid rejected the news, saying, "Baradar has not been arrested; it is a rumour."
He was the chief of the hardline political party Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Sami.
Mullah Yaqub, who was in his early 20s, was killed by Taliban who didn't want him as their leader and Pakistan, says a top Afghanistan lawmaker
Pakistan has granted some concessions to key Afghan Taliban leaders in its custody, including Mullah Omar's deputy Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, shifting them to "roomier facilities" and allowing them to make telephonic contact with their families.
United States Secretary of State John Kerry would not meet representatives of the Afghan Taliban during his visit to Qatar later this week, his spokesperson said Thursday.
China may accord recognition to the new government in Kabul at an early opportunity, predicts Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar
Islamabad and Kabul agree to jointly work for holding an Ulema Conference to address the issue of rising militancy and suicide attacks in the name of religion, reports Tahir Ali
Pakistan is making efforts at multiple levels for the Taliban government to have a soft landing, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
The Taliban's main challenge comes on the financial and economic front and there Pakistan doesn't have the capacity to be of any meaningful help, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Amid efforts by the concerned governments to hold peace talks with them, the Pakistani and Afghan Taliban have said they would continue their "struggle" till "the Western inspired systems" of governance in both countries are overthrown.
He said that while Pakistan public opinion favouring Al Qaeda and the Taliban have declined precipitously in the past year, "on the other hand, despite robust Pakistani military operations against extremists that directly challenge the Pakistani government authority, Afghan Taliban, Al Qaeda, and Pakistani militant groups continue to use Pakistan as a safe haven for organising, training and planning attacks against the United States and our allies in Afghanistan."
'Women have 100 per cent inclusion in the health sector. They are also teaching in the education sector. They are working in each and every one of those sectors where they are required'
An MI-17 transport helicopter was on its way to Russia for maintenance when it crash landed on August 4 in a Taliban controlled area of Logar province. The rebels made the crew members as hostages.
More than 35 Pakistani soldiers went missing on Thursday after a fierce attack by the Afghan Taliban on a border check-post in the country's restive tribal belt. The militants have claimed that they are holding ten Pakistani soldiers hostage.
The Taliban helmed attack on the Afghan parliament on Monday, ended with all six gunmen killed, the interior ministry said.
The large turnout of voters in the Afghan presidential elections despite threats from militant groups is a blow to Taliban, eminent South Asian experts have said.
The Pakistan government is supporting Islamist groups close to the Taliban in its attempt to suppress tribal insurgency in Balochistan, a leading international think tank has alleged. In its report Pakistan: The Forgotten Conflict in Balochistan, the International Crisis Group said that the Musharraf regime relies on divide-and-rule policies. It supports Pashtun Islamist parties like the JUI-F, a key patron of the Afghan Taliban, in a bid to counter secular Baloch forces.
The Taliban claimed that Siddiqui's family had approached the Taliban network through a Jirga seeking their assistance to put pressure on the US to do justice with her.
The Pakistan army has admitted that it is in contact with Afghan Taliban leaders, including Mullah Mohammad Omar, and can bring them to the negotiating table with the US if its concerns with India are addressed.
Taliban chief Mullah Omar is dead, the Afghan government announced tonight, "confirming" reports about the one-eyed extremist leader who ruled the country with an iron fist between 1996 and 2001.
Just two soldiers are known to have survived unscathed after the attack on the base.
Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani has delayed his visit to India by a few hours.
A Pakistani court barred the government from extraditing five Afghan Taliban leaders captured in the country, including Mullah Baradar, and asked the administration to explain its position in the matter on Friday.
Ryan Wesley Routh, who authorities suspect was planning to attack the Republican presidential nominee as he played a round of golf, made these remarks to The New York Times.
The Taliban stole a large amount of weapons as well.
The Taliban said the attacker had posed as a peace messenger, the BBC reports.
An Afghan national working at the Indian consulate in Jalalabad sustained injuries when unidentified persons opened fire at his vehicle. India had closed operations at the consulate in 2020 but a number of local staffers were working at the mission. The Afghan staff member of the consulate, identified as Wadood Khan, was reportedly working as a translator. Khan had left Afghanistan after the Taliban takeover and went to India. He reportedly returned to Afghanistan few months back and rejoined the consulate.
Afghanistan intelligence officials believe that terror outfit Lashkar-e-Tayiba planned and carried out the terror attack in Kabul last week that killed 16 people, including six Indians.The Afghan Taliban have already claimed responsibility for the attack, during which a car bomb was triggered off and terrorists wearing suicide vests raided hotels frequented by Indians and foreigners, targeting the visitors.
Afghan forces kill 31 Taliban militants
At least 30 Afghan Sikhs, including infants and children, flew to India from Kabul on Wednesday, August 3, 2022, after religious persecution escalates in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan.
"Defence Minister Abdullah Habibi and Army Chief of Staff Qadam Shah Shahim stepped down with immediate effect," the Khaama Press quoted the Office of the President, ARGPalace, as saying on Monday.
The banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan has admitted for the first time that it is using Afghan soil as a springboard for launching attacks on Pakistani security forces.
Doval's visit to Moscow comes weeks ahead of the G-20 foreign ministers' meeting in New Delhi.
Last month, a group of British lawmakers urged England to boycott the Champions Trophy group stage match against Afghanistan.
