Downplaying the Afghan Taliban's recent praise of India in not kowtowing to the West, the US State Department has said the Obama administration is pleased with the support that New Delhi is giving to strengthen the security, stability, prosperity of Afghanistan.
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.
Several blasts tore through a gurdwara in Kabul on Saturday, killing two persons, including a Sikh, and injuring seven others, while Afghan security personnel thwarted a bigger tragedy by stopping an explosive-laden vehicle from reaching the place of worship of the minority community in the war-torn country.
'No one in this administration, not the President nor anyone on the national security team, would suggest that the Taliban are respected and valued members of the global community'
Referring to the argument made by the US that F-16 sustenance package is to fight terrorism, Jaishankar had said everybody knows where and against whom F-16 fighter jets are used.
The US has said it will go ahead with its plan to conclude its Afghanistan mission by August 31, even as the evacuation effort, which is now in its "retrograde period", is facing an "ongoing and acute threat" from ISIS-K.
'Washington is well aware that the Haqqani group was responsible for terrorist attacks on the Indian diplomatic establishments in Afghanistan.' 'But today US self-interest dictates that Sirajuddin Haqqani's mainstreaming in Afghan political life and a potential elevation eventually to a leadership role at the national level is useful and necessary, since he can deliver peace,' notes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
"You can't do anything about it," Rashid Khan conceded as he tried to make sense of Australia's refusal to play bilateral cricket with Afghanistan men's team, which he believes, achieves nothing beyond denying happiness to his people.
"The Taliban have been cooperative in facilitating the departure of American citizens and lawful permanent residents on charter flights from HKIA. They have shown flexibility, and they have been businesslike and professional in our dealings with them in this effort. This is a positive first step," Emily Horne, Spokesperson of the National Security Council, the White House said.
Trump disclosed that he was to meet the Afghan President and senior Taliban leaders on Sunday at his Camp David retreat.
Dominic Xavier offers his take on the situation in Kabul after the Taliban takeover.
Australian foreign minister Marise Payne and defence minister Peter Dutton will visit India from September 10 to 12 to take part in the dialogue with their Indian counterparts.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said some people in the Pakistani government are aware of the whereabouts of elusive Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and Afghan Taliban chief Mullah Omar.
"Due to scheduling reasons, it is inconvenient for China to attend the meeting," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told mediapersons.
The team's remarkable rise has been cricket's biggest fairytale story in recent times but Afghanistan risk isolation following the country's takeover by the Taliban in August.
The army chief's comments on Wednesday, at the Raisina Dialogue, on engaging with Taliban were first such public remarks by a senior functionary of the government.
Glimpses of Taliban soldiers at the checkpoint in Kabul, Afghanistan.
United States officials have identified Pakistan as a base of operations or target for numerous armed and non state militant groups, some of which have existed since the 1980s, the independent Congressional Research Service said in the report.
Voicing concern that Pakistan is not doing enough against the Afghan-Taliban, including the Haqqani network, two top US Senators have warned Islamabad that any future terror attack against America or Europe that can be traced back to that country would invite "very serious" consequences.
After the killing of Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad, the United States has pressured Pakistan 'to do more' to nab Al Qaeda activists and key Taliban leaders including Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Muhammad Omer. It is suspected that Omer is hiding in Quetta city of Balochistan. Responding to US's pressure, Pakistan has speeded up its efforts and is tracking Al Qaeda terrorists all across the country.
'China is a friendly country and we welcome it for reconstruction and developing Afghanistan'
The possible extradition of 12 Afghan Taliban militants, including Taliban No 2 Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, arrested by Pakistan has been stalled after the Lahore High Court dismissed petitions regarding the extradition.
Considering that Qatar is a trusted ally of Washington for decades, it is expected to be a steady influence on the Taliban leadership, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
An Indian Air Force plane with 120 people on-board, including Indian envoy Rudrendra Tandon, landed on Tuesday at the Jamnagar airbase in Gujarat from Kabul in Afghanistan.
The United States' mounting pressure on Pakistan -- to go after the Afghan Taliban inside Balochistan -- could affect the cohesion of the Pakistan army and lead to the destabilisation of the government, according to US Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke.Earlier, Holbrooke said, "We will not be able to succeed in Afghanistan unless our Pakistan policy is equally successful".
Taliban is in turmoil in Afghanistan after its top leadership sacked a senior commander for disobeying orders, British intelligence officers stationed in that country have claimed.
Afghanistan will play T20 World Cup, says media manager.
Harry, 23 a Household Cavalry Officer, has spent the past 10 weeks secretly serving in war-ravaged Helmand Province. The deployment had been cloaked in secrecy under a news blackout deal, agreed across the United Kingdom media to prevent details reaching the Taliban and endangering Harry and his comrades' lives. But the arrangement broke down after news was leaked out on the US website, the Drudge Report.
Afghan-Taliban's secretive head Mullah Omar's name as been "quietly removed" from the FBI's list of most wanted terrorists, Pakistani media has claimed, prompting the US investigative agency to clarify that he had never figured in its list.
Chief of Army Staff General M M Naravane on Saturday did not rule out the possibility of Afghan-origin foreign terrorists attempting to infiltrate into Jammu and Kashmir once the situation stabilises in Afghanistan as he cited similar instances when the Taliban were in power in Kabul over two decades ago.
Pakistan, the report said, has played an active, and by many accounts, a negative role in Afghan affairs for decades.
There is no better way to address the security threat emanating from ISIS and other terrorist groups in Afghanistan than by co-opting the Taliban, asserts Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
The incident happened in Bagh-e-Shamal village of the provincial capital Pul-e-Khomre, TOLOnews reported, citing local officials.
The deadly American air strike on a hospital in northern Afghan city of Kunduz that killed 22 people, including women and children, was a mistake, a top US commander in Afghanistan on Tuesday said as he conceded that they were taken by surprise by the recent Taliban upsurge.
Afghanistan will remain a frontline state for Washington for a foreseeable future in terms of the potential threats to US national security from terrorist groups, asserts Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar, who played a stellar role in beginning India's dealings in Afghanistan in 1994.
Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Tuesday said neither Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden nor Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Omar were present in Pakistan, a day after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton' assertion that the Laden is still in the country.
In a tweet on Sunday, the senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader said, 'Recent developments in our volatile neighbourhood & the way Sikhs & Hindus are going through a harrowing time are precisely why it was necessary to enact the Citizenship Amendment Act.'
For 16-year-old Negin Afshar, riding a motorbike around a dirt track in Kabul isn't just about the excitement. It is also a way to show that Afghan women can be tough too in a country where concerns are growing that hard-earned rights might be lost.
The timing of these transfers, while being projected as routine, is significant in both strategic and political terms, asserts Rana Banerji, who headed the Pakistan desk at the Research and Analysis Wing, India's external intelligence agency.
A little-known pro-Taliban militant group that is holding two former ISI officers and a British journalist of Pakistani-origin has threatened to execute them if its demands are not met within 10 days.
