The Taliban have postponed the formation of a new government in Afghanistan for next week, their spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said on Saturday, as the insurgent group struggles to give shape to a broad-based and inclusive administration acceptable to the international community.
With friends who are now turning away rather than recognise them on the street, Pakistan is also trying to prepare itself for inevitable domestic leadership changes, says Aditi Phadnis
Like China, India too should connect the dots and move ahead with a long-term perspective in Afghanistan, advises Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
If New Delhi finds itself out in the cold in Afghanistan, both the Congress-led UPA and BJP-led NDA have only themselves to blame. Each has been in power for a full decade from 2001, without reaching out to the Taliban, points out Ajai Shukla.
Afghanistan will play T20 World Cup, says media manager.
The world's attention is on the new Taliban and the imminent announcement of an inclusive government in Kabul, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar
Conflicting accounts emerged on Wednesday of a possible nascent peace process between Pakistani authorities and the Taliban, with a militant spokesman confirming preliminary peace talks while denying the announcement of a ceasefire.
Pak's role in Kabul is not sending a good message to India, a top American lawmaker has said
Three policemen were killed and another injured when Taliban militants attacked a police van in Pakistan's restive northwest on Thursday, officials said. The militants lobbed grenades at the van and then fired at it with automatic weapons in Lakki Marwat area of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province. District police chief Gulzar Ali confirmed that three policemen were killed and another one injured.
Unless the Taliban goofs up in a big way, which seems highly unlikely, we are looking at a regime that will be around for quite a long while and present a level of governance that the puppets of the richest and most advanced countries failed to provide, predicts Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
"If I was the foreign minister, I would have had contact with them. I would have gone out of my way and told my intelligence agency to make a contact quietly," former external affairs minister Natwar Singh said.
A Pakistan Taliban suicide bomber blew himself up in a mosque packed with worshippers during afternoon prayers in the high-security zone in Peshawar, killing at least 61 people and wounding more than 150 others, mostly policemen.
In a significant policy statement on the Taliban which is making big gains in its offensive in Afghanistan, China has asked it to make a "clean break" from all terrorist forces, especially the Al Qaida-backed Uyghur Muslim militant group ETIM fighting for the volatile Xinjiang province's independence.
Expressing concern over the Islamabad government's failure in curbing terrorism, a prominent Pakistani jurist has said that the country should focus on 'Taliban instead of rivalry with India'. Pakistan has failed to curb terrorism and the government is incapable to deal with the looming threat posed by Taliban and other extremists, senior Supreme Court lawyer Abid Hassan Minto said. Minto said that the Pakistani military and political leaders should fight internal extremists.
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.
The Taliban have stopped all imports and exports with India after entering Kabul and taking over the country on Sunday. Ajay Sahai, Director General (DG) of Federation of Indian Export Organisation (FIEO) told ANI that currently, the Taliban has stopped the movement of cargo through the transit routes of Pakistan, thereby stopping imports from the country.
Describing China as its 'most important partner', the Afghan Taliban has said it looks to Beijing to rebuild Afghanistan and exploit its rich copper deposits as the war-ravaged country faces widespread hunger and fears of an economic collapse.
Robust military preparedness along the entire perimeter of our nation is the only iron-clad permanent guarantee for our security, asserts Vivek Gumaste.
India, along with some other members, objected to the proposal and due to lack of consensus or concurrence, the meet has been cancelled.
Musharraf also demanded that coalition fighting Taliban help spread economic development in Pashtun areas to wean them away from the Taliban and ensure that they do not join them.
"In our statement, we have said that we have told them that we want them to be cognisant of the fact that there should be no terrorism that emanates from their territory directed against us, or other countries; that we want them to be mindful of the status of women, minorities and so on so forth. And, and I think they have, also, you know, made reassuring... from their side," foreign secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla said.
"We attach great importance to our trade, economic and political relations with India and want to maintain that relation," Stanekzai said.
During his visit, Musharraf had assured that a peace deal he struck with tribal leaders will not diminish the hunt for the leaders of Al Qaeda and the Taliban or their training camps.
Mullah Muhammad Hassan Akhund is appointed as Prime Minister with two deputies Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar and Molavi Abdul Salam Hanafi.
Special envoys of China, Russia and Pakistan have met the top officials of the Taliban's interim government as well as Afghan leaders Hamid Karzai and Abdullah Abdullah in Kabul and discussed the formation of an inclusive government, combating terrorism and humanitarian situation, a top Chinese official said on Wednesday.
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.
Taking part in the first meeting of Foreign Ministers of the neighbouring countries on Afghanistan, Foreign Minister Wang Yi said China will provide Afghanistan with 200 million yuan ($31 million) worth of grains, winter supplies, vaccines and medicines as per its requirements, official media in Beijing reported.
US Defence Secretary Robert Gates has said Taliban and Al Qaeda are using Pakistan's tribal areas particularly north Waziristan to regroup, a problem the US is trying to address with Islamabad.
'It has been 14 years since I began living in exile and it's shocking that the situation in Balochistan has only worsened rather than improved.'
Biden's lengthy remarks on Afghanistan contained no condemnatory references to the Taliban, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar, who played a stellar role in beginning India's systemic dealings in Afghanistan in 1994.
"I have not seen anything to corroborate that report," Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby told reporters at a news conference on Thursday when asked about the reported allegations by former Afghanistan president Ashraf Ghani that Pakistan had sent between 10,000 to 15,000 of its men along with the Taliban to capture Kabul and Afghanistan.
Speaking to ANI, Qatar-based spokesperson of Taliban Suhail Shaheen said, "What do you mean by military role? If they come to Afghanistan militarily and have their presence, I think that will not be good for them, they have seen the fate of military presence in Afghanistan of other countries. So it is an open book for them. And about their help to the Afghan people or national projects, I think that is something which is appreciated."
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, during his telephonic conversation with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Sunday, discussed the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan amidst chaotic airlifts of Afghan civilians and diplomats by the US and North Atlantic Treaty Organisation countries before the August 31 deadline.
Following the death of Pakistan Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud in an American drone strike, an interesting question has cropped up -- Will Islamabad offer the promised bounty money of Rs 50 million to the Central Intelligence Agency for killing Pakistan's top militant?The United States government had also announced a $ 5 million bounty on Mehsud. The Pakistan government had announced a reward for the capture, dead or alive, of Baitullah.
China's Ambassador to Afghanistan Wang Yu and Acting Minister of Refugee Affairs of the Afghan caretaker government Khalil-ur-Rehman Haqqani attended the handover ceremony at the airport.
"Absolutely untrue", State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland said, when asked there was a feeling inside Pakistan that they are being sidelined in these talks with Taliban.
Dismissing this as "nonsense", the Pakistani President accused Karzai of being "totally oblivious of what is happening in his own country."
Their leaders in the provinces, which have been under the control of Taliban commanders for several months now, speak the language of the bigot. Women are known to have been abducted and enslaved. Several young girls have simply disappeared.
The Pakistan Army on Tuesday claimed that its forces waging a tough ground offensive in the lawless South Waziristan tribal region have captured most of the towns and populated centres from the Taliban.
Amid India's concerns that Afghanistan's territory might be used for anti-India activities under the Taliban regime, the terror group has said that it has the right to raise its voice for Muslims anywhere, including in Kashmir. However, it added that the group does not have a policy of raising arms against any country.
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