At least 12 persons, including four children, were killed and 30 injured as two explosive-laden vehicles rammed into the boundary wall of the main cantonment in Bannu in northwest Pakistan on Tuesday while the army personnel neutralised at least six terrorists.
'It is a testing time for our foreign policy which may involve a certain element of taking risks, assessing costs, and expecting failures,' asserts Commodore Venugopal Menon (retd).
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said the 2008 Mumbai terror attack marked a turning point in relations with Pakistan when Indians collectively felt that such behaviour from a neighbouring country could no longer be tolerated. Speaking at Charotar University of Science and Technology, Jaishankar acknowledged India's transformation under Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the last decade, while Pakistan has remained unchanged, continuing with what he termed as its "bad habits."
'The struggle of insurgents and pro-independence political activists is fuelled by a deep conviction that not only is a free Balochistan possible, but they also believe that Pakistan will inevitably break apart, leading to Balochistan's independence.'
Pakistani Taliban's splinter group Jamaat-ul-Ahrar on Thursday identified a 25-year-old man as the suicide bomber who blew himself up at Wagah killing 61 people, minutes after the popular flag-lowering ceremony at the main land border crossing with India.
"So, there was no infiltration of any Afghani Taliban... To that effect, we have been able to control (things)," he said.
In a surprise move, Pakistan's powerful intelligence chief Lieutenant General Faiz Hameed on Saturday dashed to Kabul, amidst the Taliban struggling to finalise and install an inclusive government in Afghanistan that would be acceptable to the international community.
Pakistan's efforts for the peace process in Afghanistan would be remembered for long, he said.
During the day-long visit, the Pakistani delegation will hold talks with Afghanistan's acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi and call on leadership of the interim government in Kabul and other Afghan leaders, according to Foreign Office.
'Even during the worst days during the 1990s, India was dealing with the Taliban.'
Former Indian diplomats on Monday termed the Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan as a "setback" for India strategically, and asserted that the priority for New Delhi right now should be to evacuate its citizens from the war-torn nation.
The world's attention is on the new Taliban and the imminent announcement of an inclusive government in Kabul, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar
'The Mansoor Taliban is really an extension of the Haqqani Network which in turn is an instrument of the ISI. With Ashraf Ghani ready to dance to Pakistani tunes and with the Haqqani Network becoming part of the Afghan government, Pakistan is all set to see the fruition of its strategic policy,' says Sushant Sareen.
The Pakistan Taliban chief behind the Peshawar attack that killed 132 pupils has issued a chilling warning that more deaths will follow in another terror "spectacular" in a new video released on Tuesday.
Hundreds of Afghan protesters, including many women, took to the streets of Kabul on Tuesday, September 7, 2021, in an anti-Pakistan protest chanting 'Death to Pakistan', denouncing Islamabad's interference in Afghanistan as well as airstrikes by Pakistani jets in Panjshir province in support of the Taliban.
'We can't be outliers. We can't be bystanders. We have to be players.' 'The Taliban also need India to balance the winners in this game.'
India can help the US in insulating Pakistan's nuclear establishments and arsenal from terror attacks, believes B Raman
The United States embassy in Pakistan has warned about a possible terrorist attack against American citizens at the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad and prohibited American staff from visiting the five-star facility, an official statement said.
'Throughout the nearly 20-year US-led war, State sponsorship from Pakistan has been a constant.'
Security was tightened around a government girls' school in Rawalpindi after a letter allegedly sent by the Pakistani Taliban warned that it would be blown up if it is not shut down, a media report said on Monday.
The Taliban has said they have no plans to attack Pakistan's nuclear arsenal as their stepped-up violent campaign to avenge Osama bin Laden's death has renewed fears that the country's warheads could be vulnerable.
Top US security officials used an urgent meeting with Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari to present a dossier on Pakistani-American terror suspect Faisal Shahzad, including his links with the Pakistani Taliban, according to a media report on Wednesday.
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."
Thirteen people, including two children, were killed and four others injured when the Pakistani Taliban targetted a bu s carrying Shia Muslims with a roadside bomb in the country's restive tribal belt on Wednesday.
Parkash, a 2022 graduate of Abbottabad International Medical College, serves as the general secretary of the PPP women's wing in Buner.
With hardline commander Mullah Fazlullah at its helm, the Pakistani Taliban has vowed to launch a wave of revenge attacks and ruled out talks with the government.
ISI chief Faiz Hameed coerced the Taliban to announce an interim government guaranteed to preserve Pakistan's control over the levers of power in Kabul, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Taliban leader freed from a Pakistani jail on the request of the US less than three years ago, has emerged as an "undisputed victor" of the 20-year war in Afghanistan, according to a British media report.
According to the Inter-Services Public Relations, the media wing of the army, the terrorists attacked the security post in Dera Ismail Khan's Daraban area bordering the South Waziristan tribal district in the early morning hours.
'Every decision India makes along the LoC, it must also consider implications along the LAC.'
Pakistani Taliban has warned that the next few days and weeks would be "disastrous" for the country as the banned outfit vowed to "teach" the government and its security agencies a lesson over the killing of its leader Hakimullah Mehsud in a US drone strike.
Deputy head of the Taliban's cultural affairs commission Ahmadullah Wasiq said that fighting between Taliban fighters and the Resistance Front was ongoing in central Panjshir, TOLO News reported on Sunday.
Eight members of an Al Qaeda suicide squad, including their local handler, have been arrested by Pakistani security agencies in past week, officials said.
The attack on the Balochistan Police College, 20 km from Quetta city began around 11:10 pm on Monday night, triggering an operation by Pakistani security forces who rescued hundreds of cadets from the academy.
China may accord recognition to the new government in Kabul at an early opportunity, predicts Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar
All You Want To Know About The 1999 Hijack.
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 chief of the Islamic State militant group in Af-Pak region has been killed in a US drone strike in eastern Afghanistan, three days after another top leader of the terror outfit died in a similar American air assault, a media report said on Saturday.
Pakistan has too much at stake to allow even an iota of rapprochement between India and the Taliban, says Vivek Gumaste.
Even though the Taliban has managed to capture Afghanistan and form a government, an internal rift between the faction has started emerging, according to media reports.
