FIFA has approved a rule change allowing Afghan women footballers, many exiled since the Taliban's return, to play official international matches in FIFA competitions.
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.
Officials from Pakistan, Afghanistan, and China are meeting in Urumqi to discuss regional security concerns and potential confidence-building measures.
'In a volatile global market, India is pursuing a low-risk, low-return policy, akin to a SIP -- slow, steady investment.' 'Pakistan is following a high-risk, high-return policy.'
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.
A collection of newspaper frontpages from across the world, on a day when Afghanistan fell to the Taliban for the second time.
A new US intelligence report warns that India and Pakistan's relations remain at risk for nuclear conflict, fueled by terrorism and escalating tensions in the region.
A senior Russian diplomat has expressed apprehension over the possibility of the US attempting to regain control of the Bagram airbase in Afghanistan, amidst escalating military tensions in the region.
Pakistani security forces killed two terrorists from the banned TTP who attempted to attack an under-construction police station in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. The terrorists clashed with police after demanding construction work stop and kidnapped workers and policemen, who were later released after negotiations. A separate incident in the area resulted in one death and three injuries from a mortar shell.
The visas were granted to the five Iranian players after US President Donald Trump spoke to Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese following reports that the players had requested asylum.
'The unexpected turn of events and assertion of sovereignty by the Taliban has baffled the Pakistan security establishment.'
'If this region destabilises, then we are not far away. This region should not destabilise.'
Shah, in a video that has gone viral on Twitter, said every Indian Muslim must introspect if they want 'reform and modernity' in the religion or live with dated 'barbarian' values.
'Pakistan is uncomfortable with the Indian presence in Afghanistan. They want the Taliban to ensure that there is no Indian presence in Afghanistan.'
The Afghan Taliban attacked four locations in the Spin Boldak area of PoK's Balochistan province, which were effectively repulsed by Pakistani Forces, the army said.
'Pakistan wanted India out of Afghanistan to which again the Taliban told Pakistan to take a walk.' 'Six months after they came back to power in 2021 India was back in Afghanistan at the request of the Taliban.' 'The Taliban realised that India has no agenda of its own in Afghanistan.'
Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif chaired a high-level meeting to review regional and internal security in light of recent events in Iran and Afghanistan.
Israel and the United States had a plan. Iran punched back. And now the Gulf is reeling, the world is beginning to feel the pain and, as on date, no one in Washington or Tel Aviv appears willing to admit that the punch has landed, notes Prem Panicker, continuing his must-read blog on the war in the Middle East.
'Many senior Bangladeshis feel Bangladesh will fall into anarchy if the Jamaat becomes an important part of a future government or has disproportionate influence in the government.'
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.
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.
US reoccupation would need large troop deployments, break the Doha Agreement, and strain relations with Pakistan, Russia and Iran.
Naqvi assured Siriwiratnay that the visiting team players and officials were state guests in Pakistan.
India on Thursday welcomed Kabul's firm rejection of attempts to create distrust between India and Afghanistan during a phone conversation between External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and acting Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi.
The United States has announced the end of its 20-year-old war in Afghanistan as the last American military flight flew out of the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul shortly before the August 31 deadline.
Ahead of the second anniversary of its grabbing power in Afghanistan, the Taliban has banned women's beauty salons in the country.
Rashid Khan said education held a central place in Islamic teachings and that the faith emphasised the pursuit of knowledge for men and women.
Taliban's spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid announced the decree that aims to solve "obscene acts".
There has never been a moment in India's history when it has been so adrift in the world, so confused about what it stands for and against and so humiliated, asserts Aakar Patel.
England previously faced Afghanistan at the 50-overs Cricket World Cup in 2023, as well as at the Twenty20 World Cup in 2022.
Students returned to class in Kabul weeks after the Taliban took over the Afghan capital to find their classrooms divided by a curtain to separate male and female students.
India-US relations, like Rome, were not built in a day, nor can they be demolished in a day.
All said and done, when the new global order emerges, India can only remain with the democracies, asserts Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
Ahmed Shah Massoud's assassination, 9/11 and the defeat and ejection of the Taliban suggested a break in Afghanistan's history, but the events of August 2021 and the Taliban's return shows how deeper continuities remained in place, points out T C A Raghavan, former Indian high commissioner to Pakistan.
'We need to be very vigilant as we are passing through some fraught times.'
The terror group is in touch with the international community and intra-Afghan parties to make government in Afghanistan.
The Taliban government in Afghanistan is not going anywhere. That being the case, why is the hesitation to establish formal diplomatic relations with the Taliban? asks Lieutenant General Prakash Katoch (Retd).
'If there is one thing that I would request from the athletes all around the world, it would be it is time that we unite together. And it's time that women support other women.'
'It will remain hostile to Indian interests owing to its close proximity to China.'
"I judge by the first day of their control over Kabul. The impressions are good. The situation in Kabul is better now (under Taliban) than it was under Ashraf Ghani," Russian Ambassador to Afghanistan Dmitry Zhirnov was quoted as saying by Moscow's Ekho Moskvy radio station on Monday.
Women petition the Taliban. Talibs patrol Kabul's streets. Afghans flee into Pakistan.
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