These releases are in addition to 26 Taliban detainees freed last year by Pakistan.
Even as Pakistan and Afghanistan gear up to meet in Doha on Saturday to broker a peace after days of fighting and air strike the Taliban government said that Afghanistan reserves the right to respond to Pakistani airstrikes on its land.
Following Pakistani airstrikes in Afghanistan's Barmal district of Paktika province, which left 46 dead and six injured, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Afghanistan on Wednesday summoned the Charge d'Affaires of the Pakistani Embassy in Kabul.
Afghans have deep self-respect and are the last people to put up with humiliation. Is it any surprise that relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan have touched an all-time low and the two countries are now at war? asks M R Narayan Swamy.
India has strongly condemned Pakistan's airstrike on a drug treatment centre in Kabul, calling it a barbaric act and a threat to regional peace and stability.
Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi arrived in New Delhi for a six-day visit, marking the first high-level trip from Kabul since the Taliban's takeover. He is scheduled to meet with Indian officials to discuss bilateral relations and regional issues.
Afghanistan national cricket team players visited injured civilians in Kabul hospitals after deadly airstrikes, as calls grow for an international investigation.
India told the UN Security Council that it calls for a pragmatic engagement with the Taliban, underlining that a focus on only punitive measures will ensure a 'business as usual' approach.
China has urged Pakistan and Afghanistan to engage in direct talks to resolve their ongoing conflict, offering to mediate and calling for a ceasefire.
Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi addressed the controversy surrounding the absence of women journalists at a recent press interaction in New Delhi, stating there was no intention to exclude them. He also discussed trade and investment opportunities between Afghanistan and India.
China's week-long mediation between Pakistan and Afghanistan concludes without a formal agreement, though Beijing claims progress in exploring solutions to resolve their differences.
Amidst escalating tensions in West Asia, Pakistan's defence chief visited Saudi Arabia to discuss regional security and the mutual defence pact between the two nations, focusing on de-escalation strategies.
A press conference by Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi in New Delhi restricted participation to a select few reporters, notably excluding women journalists, raising concerns about media access and women's rights under the Taliban regime.
Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi is expected to visit India next week, marking the first high-level trip from Kabul since the Taliban's rise to power. The visit follows a temporary exemption to a UN travel ban and is expected to enhance India's relations with the Taliban government.
Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi expressed confidence in stronger India-Afghanistan ties following a visit to Darul Uloom Deoband, thanking the people for their warm welcome and indicating plans to send new diplomats to India.
Pakistan's Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi announced that the suicide bomber involved in the deadly Islamabad bombing was an Afghan national. The announcement follows a suicide bombing in Islamabad and another attack in South Waziristan.
'During the 5-day visit, Amir Khan Muttaqi would have, conceivably, bumped into our powerful security agencies one way or another and some interaction would have ensued, which, in turn, can lead to future dealings.' 'Indeed, this will be the one crucial template of the Indo-Afghan relationship that Pakistan will be monitoring closely,' points Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
The scheduled visit of Afghanistan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi to Agra has been cancelled. The cancellation was confirmed by officials, though no reason was provided. Muttaqi is currently on a six-day trip to India, the first such visit by a senior Taliban minister in four years.
China is mediating talks between Pakistan and Afghanistan to address their ongoing military conflict, following Pakistan's operation against terrorist hideouts in Afghanistan and UN reports questioning Pakistan's evidence of militant presence in Afghanistan.
Afghanistan's exiled women cricketers will be the first beneficiaries of a new refugee fund started by the Marylebone Cricket Club, the MCC said on Friday.
Developing relations with the Taliban is needed, but plunging headlong into Afghanistan without due thought will be akin to the rooster entering a KFC outlet, warns Lieutenant General Prakash Katoch (Retd).
Afghanistan's anti-doping programme has collapsed since the Taliban's return to power, with no tests conducted for three years and the country's exiled anti-doping chief admitting there is currently 'no hope'. The programme faces numerous challenges, including a lack of Doping Control Officers, logistical issues, and political instability.
If the visit had taken place, then it would have been the first ministerial visit from Kabul to India after the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan in August 2021.
No group or individual claimed responsibility for the attack, but such strikes are usually carried out by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistani (TTP).
The opposition on Saturday termed the absence of female journalists from a press conference of visiting Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi "unacceptable" and an "insult to women", and said Prime Minister Narendra Modi's silence in the face of such discrimination exposes the "emptiness" of his slogans on Nari Shakti.
Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi announced that Kabul will send diplomats to India as part of efforts to improve bilateral relations. He assured New Delhi that Afghan soil will not be used for activities detrimental to India's interests.
'I hang my head in shame when I see the kind of respect and reception that has been given to the representative of the world's worst terrorist group Taliban, by those who beat the pulpit against all kinds of terrorists'
'Much later when I came to Afghanistan, I realised that there were songs in Bollywood films.'
Pakistan has released 14 Afghan Taliban cadres, including 'commander' Anwar Haq Mujahid, and may consider a request by Afghan peace negotiators to free Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, to kick-start the Afghan reconciliation process. The 14 Afghan Taliban cadres were freed in two phases.
'Pakistan is uncomfortable with the Indian presence in Afghanistan. They want the Taliban to ensure that there is no Indian presence in Afghanistan.'
Pakistan and Afghanistan have agreed to an immediate ceasefire and setting up of 'mechanisms' to ensure lasting peace after days of violent clashes along the border that left several soldiers, civilians, and terrorists dead on both sides, officials said on Sunday.
With the Afghanistan government in Kabul approaching Islamabad for help in opening "reconciliation" talks with the Taliban, a Pakistani role in shaping the political landscape in Afghanistan is now an uncomfortable likelihood for New Delhi.
If Trump wants peace with Iran, Pakistan will offer to help. If Trump seeks Pakistan's aid to spy on Iran, then too Munir will not hesitate to chip in. At the same time, the ISI will not hesitate to tip off Iran now and then, points out M R Narayan Swamy.
Pakistan launched fresh air strikes targeting terrorist hideouts in Afghanistan, killing several people, including three cricketers, casting a shadow over the expected talks in Doha amid a fragile ceasefire that had temporarily halted hostilities between the two sides.
Close on the heels of the United States advocating dialogue with the Afghan Taliban, the terror outfit has said that peace talks cannot be held unless Washington abandons its "dual-faced policies" on Afghanistan.
Pakistan's Ambassador to the United States Husain Haqqani has called the leak of classified United States military documents on the Afghan war as 'irresponsible', and insisted that his nation was fully committed to fighting terror groups.Whistle-blower organisation WikiLeaks has released over 90,000 documents called the 'Afghan War Diaries, 2004-2010', which prove fears that Pakistan is aiding the Taliban to organise networks of militant groups that fight against America.
The meaning of "domestic opportunities" is still very sketchy as most of these cricketers live in Australia.
Several Afghanistan cricketers, including Rashid Khan and Mohammad Nabi, condemned Pakistan's military airstrike at a drug rehabilitation centre in Kabulinvestigation.
The statement, made during a special interview with Tolo News, came days after the US President said that Washington was trying to regain control of the base, which is currently under the control of the Taliban government after the US and its allied troops withdrew from the country in 2021.
Afghan-Taliban commanders Aminullah and Maulvi Bismillah represented supreme militant commander Mullah Omer in three round of talks with the government of Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who "partially participated" in the parleys, sources familiar with the process told PTI on Wednesday.
