The Afghan Taliban have refuted claims that reclusive Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar had written a letter to United States President Barack Obama last year, expressing an interest in holding talks. According to the Afghan Taliban, the claims made by some US officials is merely a ploy to divert people's attention from their "powerful position", which they have attained after fighting an almost ten-year-old "successful war".
Amid deepening concerns in China over the regrouping of the ETIM, blamed by Beijing for all the violent attacks in its volatile Xinjiang province and elsewhere in the country, Foreign Minister Wang Yi met Mullah Baradar at Tianjin and sought to prevail on him to build a 'positive image and establish a broad and inclusive political structure that suits Afghanistan's national realities'.
On the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 terror strike, the Afghan Taliban have requested the international community to urge the United States against the "illegal occupation" of Afghanistan for the War on Terror.
A senior Afghan interim government official on Monday confirmed that strikes in the Afghanistan provinces of Paktika and Khost along the Pakistan border have taken place.
"Our role (in the Afghan peace process) will remain that of a facilitator and not a leader... allowing the Taliban to open an office in Pakistan will be contrary to our principled position," Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was quoted as saying by an unnamed aide.
The columnist said that Munir was reported as saying on stage at a Brussels gathering that: "God has made me protector of the country. I do not desire any position other than that."
The remarks by China's deputy permanent representative to the UN, Geng Shuang, came during an emergency meeting of the Security Council on the situation in Afghanistan on Monday after the sudden and rapid takeover of the Afghanistan government by the Taliban insurgents.
In a letter written to the global governing body, the women cricketers praised the splendid performance of the men's team in the T20 World Cup but rued that they were not getting opportunities to flourish.
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).
A US special envoy met senior Taliban representatives in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, and discussed the issue of Afghan central bank reserves.
The Taliban have said that religious scholars will lead the upcoming government in Afghanistan as the country's government collapsed over a week ago when the terror group seized Kabul, a media report said.
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.
The United States officials in Afghanistan naively handed the Taliban a 'kill list' to target Afghans who aided American forces in the country, according to a media report.
Afghan Taliban has denied reports that their leader Mullah Omar is dead and said that their website and phones were hacked and false news was delivered to the media.
Singh, the joint secretary heading the division for Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran in the ministry of external affairs, held talks with Taliban's foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi on Thursday.
A Pakistani court gave three weeks to the federal government to submit a detailed reply on the status of 10 high-profile Afghan Taliban leaders who are in the custody of authorities.
Revelations by Pakistani-American David Headley, a Lashkar-e-Tayiba operative charged with conspiring in the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, may have prompted Islamabad to finally go after the Afghan-Taliban, a noted United States scholar on South Asia has said.
Gen Ahmadzai was scheduled to arrive in New Delhi on Tuesday on a three-day visit to explore ways to deepen bilateral military ties in the backdrop of the Taliban carrying out offensive operations across Afghanistan following the withdrawal of foreign forces.
The invitation for the meeting to India was extended by Qatari special envoy for conflict resolution Mutlaq bin Majed Al-Qahtani during his visit to the national capital last week.
Pakistan on Friday announced it will release former Afghan Taliban deputy chief Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar on Saturday, meeting a long-standing demand of Afghan President Hamid Karzai to advance peace efforts in the war-ravaged country.
Taliban leader Mullah Omar's spokesman rejects Afghan President Hamid Karzai's attempts for talks with the Taliban in an exchange with Rediff.com contributor Tahir Ali.
In an unusual step, the Afghan Taliban on Tuesday batted for Pakistan over the issue of Inter-Services Intelligence-backed terror strikes in Afghanistan, claiming that the United States "wants to spread chaos in Pakistan" and weaken its government.
Pakistan on Saturday released former Afghan Taliban deputy chief Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, meeting a long-standing demand of Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai to advance peace efforts in the war-ravaged country.
Zakia Khudadadi completed a remarkable journey to become the first athlete from the refugee team to win a medal at the Paralympics when she clinched a taekwondo bronze on Thursday.
"Imran Khan is exciting because he is enervating the denervating, actually, the Pakistani polity, particularly the youth," said South Asia expert Professor C Christine Fair, at the Brookings Institution conference on The Future of Pakistan, on Monday.
The Pakistani Taliban have sacked their official spokesman for issuing threats to Afghan Taliban, signalling internal fissures within the ranks of the terror outfit.
In summary killings that took place on June 16 in the town of Dawlat Abad in Faryab province, close to Afghanistan's border with Turkmenistan, the Taliban executed 22 unarmed members of an Afghan Special Forces unit as they tried to surrender, CNN has reported.
China on Thursday said it is in talks with the Taliban and called for an "objective judgement" on their actions after it seized power in Afghanistan, saying the militant group appears to be more "cleareyed and rational" and hoped that it will deliver on its promises, including protection of women's rights.
An audio message has been released in Pushto, circulated by Taliban commanders, where Akhundzada said, "Taliban will never bow their heads and will not agree to peace talks," reports Dawn.
Pakistan's efforts for the peace process in Afghanistan would be remembered for long, he said.
The Taliban have been known for using violence to force the people to accept their agenda and views, he added.
Ahead of the second anniversary of its grabbing power in Afghanistan, the Taliban has banned women's beauty salons in the country.
The election seem to have been conducted without any major security lapses. However, in the coming weeks, the military situation in Kandahar could tilt in the Taliban's favour, notes Aveek Sen.
'Afghan people will not accept a governing structure that excludes women and minorities'
I am staying here for the last five years. The situation is really bad there (in Afghanistan). The people staying there are far from the normal situation. People are trying to come out and move to either Iran, Tajikistan or India just to save themselves.
August 15, 2023 marked two years since the Taliban captured power in Afghanistan and Talibs celebrated the fall of Kabul on the street near the US embassy on Tuesday.
All hopes of a breakthrough between the Afghan Taliban and the Hamid Karzai administration came to an end when Mulla Umar refused 35,000 government jobs for his fighters, the News International, Pakistan reported.
Then 18, Talash crossed the border into Pakistan after Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan in 2021 before settling in Spain as a refugee the following year. The International Olympics Committee changed break-dancer Talash's life forever by including her in its refugee squad for the Paris Games.
"China and the Afghan Taliban have unimpeded and effective communication and consultation," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told a media briefing in Beijing.
On January 30, a suicide bombing at a mosque in the Peshawar Police Lines area claimed the lives of at least 101 people
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