Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif arrives in the US on Tuesday and is likely to face pressure to bring the Taliban to the negotiating table.
'The worst case scenario for Pakistan is a full-scale Taliban takeover of Afghanistan.' 'Pakistani militants would be inspired and emboldened and seek to replicate the Taliban's successes in Pakistan.'
Afghanistan witnessed a series of terror attacks in the last few weeks as the US aimed to complete the withdrawal of its forces from Afghanistan by August-end, ending a nearly two-decade of its military presence in the war-ravaged country.
Biden has ruled out any change in the plan to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan despite the Taliban increasingly gaining control over large swaths of the war-torn 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.
China on Monday expressed the hope that the Taliban will stand by its commitment of establishing an "open and inclusive" Islamic government in Afghanistan and will ensure a peaceful transition of power without violence and terrorism.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif thanked US President Donald Trump for acknowledging Pakistan's role in counter-terrorism efforts after the country arrested a wanted terrorist. Trump thanked the Pakistani government for helping arrest "Mohammad Shareefullah", also known as Jafar, who supported and conducted activities on behalf of ISIS-K in support of multiple lethal attacks, including the Abbey Gate attack in 2021. Sharif said the terrorist, an Afghan national, had been apprehended in an operation along the border with Afghanistan.
The botched car bomb incident at Times Square in New York City indicates the Pakistan Taliban's ambitions are far expanding, says General David H Petraeus, head of United States Central Command, who recently toured Pakistan.
The Tehreek-i-Taliban which claimed responsibility of the brazen attack on the Jinnah International Airport in Karachi, is made up of Chechens, Arabs, Afghan Taliban, Uzbeks and Central Asians, has become a fearful force to deal with. Vicky Nanjappa tells you why
Senior analyst B Raman scrutinises the terror attack on Kabul's Intercontinental Hotel and says its another bid of the Taliban and the Haqqani Network to make their presence felt.
Pakistan's powerful ISI is no longer considered a "friend" of Taliban in Afghanistan, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi has claimed.
The Taliban has chosen to interpret the lack of open Indian enthusiasm on the US idea of Indian military training role in Afghanistan as Indian rejection of the US feelers, says B Raman.
The dreaded Al-Qaeda is trying to install one of its commanders as the new "chief" of Pakistani Taliban, which it fears is in disarray, following the reported slaying of group's leader Baitullah Mehsud in a US missile strike.
'If there is a military standoff eyeball to eyeball on the western border, the Chinese could create problems by making movements in the north, in our northeast, which could involve us tying down some forces there so that could stretch our military actions.'
Haji Omar Khan, a lieutenant of Afghan Taliban commander Jalaluddin Haqqani, was killed when two missiles slammed into a suspected militant training camp near Ladha town in South Waziristan close to the Afghan border early on Monday morning, local TV channels reported.
China may accord recognition to the new government in Kabul at an early opportunity, predicts Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar
Mullah Akhtar, a close aide of Mullah Omar who served as his deputy for the past three years, was chosen as the new leader.
The Taliban's main challenge comes on the financial and economic front and there Pakistan doesn't have the capacity to be of any meaningful help, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
The Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan has said it will continue carrying out suicide attacks and targetting Pakistani security forces despite joining other militant groups in a pledge not to kill innocent people or to resort to kidnappings for ransom.
Pakistan is making efforts at multiple levels for the Taliban government to have a soft landing, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
A top United Nations official has blamed Pakistan of blocking reconciliation efforts with the Taliban by arresting several top extremist commanders.Admitting that there were secret negotiations going on with the Afghan Taliban, former UN envoy to Afghanistan Kai Eide criticised Pakistan for the arrests of high-profile Taliban leaders, including the second-in command Mullah Ghani Baradar, which he said has 'completely stopped a channel of secret communications with the UN'.
He was the chief of the hardline political party Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Sami.
Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Monday dismissed a report that the Inter-Services Intelligence agency is funding, training and guiding the Taliban in Afghanistan as "rubbish", saying Talibanisation is not good for both countries.
'Women have 100 per cent inclusion in the health sector. They are also teaching in the education sector. They are working in each and every one of those sectors where they are required'
Pakistan has granted some concessions to key Afghan Taliban leaders in its custody, including Mullah Omar's deputy Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, shifting them to "roomier facilities" and allowing them to make telephonic contact with their families.
Mullah Yaqub, who was in his early 20s, was killed by Taliban who didn't want him as their leader and Pakistan, says a top Afghanistan lawmaker
In a major success, a top militant commander considered to be a close aide of elusive Afghan Taliban chief Mullah Mohhamad Omar was captured from Pakistan's port city of Karachi.Mullah Baradar was captured from Karachi in a joint raid by personnel of the Inter-Services intelligence and the Central Intelligence Agency. But Taliban spokesperson Zabiullah Mujahid rejected the news, saying, "Baradar has not been arrested; it is a rumour."
United States Secretary of State John Kerry would not meet representatives of the Afghan Taliban during his visit to Qatar later this week, his spokesperson said Thursday.
Islamabad and Kabul agree to jointly work for holding an Ulema Conference to address the issue of rising militancy and suicide attacks in the name of religion, reports Tahir Ali
Amid efforts by the concerned governments to hold peace talks with them, the Pakistani and Afghan Taliban have said they would continue their "struggle" till "the Western inspired systems" of governance in both countries are overthrown.
He said that while Pakistan public opinion favouring Al Qaeda and the Taliban have declined precipitously in the past year, "on the other hand, despite robust Pakistani military operations against extremists that directly challenge the Pakistani government authority, Afghan Taliban, Al Qaeda, and Pakistani militant groups continue to use Pakistan as a safe haven for organising, training and planning attacks against the United States and our allies in Afghanistan."
An MI-17 transport helicopter was on its way to Russia for maintenance when it crash landed on August 4 in a Taliban controlled area of Logar province. The rebels made the crew members as hostages.
The Taliban helmed attack on the Afghan parliament on Monday, ended with all six gunmen killed, the interior ministry said.
More than 35 Pakistani soldiers went missing on Thursday after a fierce attack by the Afghan Taliban on a border check-post in the country's restive tribal belt. The militants have claimed that they are holding ten Pakistani soldiers hostage.
Doval's visit to Moscow comes weeks ahead of the G-20 foreign ministers' meeting in New Delhi.
The large turnout of voters in the Afghan presidential elections despite threats from militant groups is a blow to Taliban, eminent South Asian experts have said.
At least 30 Afghan Sikhs, including infants and children, flew to India from Kabul on Wednesday, August 3, 2022, after religious persecution escalates in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan.
The Taliban claimed that Siddiqui's family had approached the Taliban network through a Jirga seeking their assistance to put pressure on the US to do justice with her.
The Pakistan government is supporting Islamist groups close to the Taliban in its attempt to suppress tribal insurgency in Balochistan, a leading international think tank has alleged. In its report Pakistan: The Forgotten Conflict in Balochistan, the International Crisis Group said that the Musharraf regime relies on divide-and-rule policies. It supports Pashtun Islamist parties like the JUI-F, a key patron of the Afghan Taliban, in a bid to counter secular Baloch forces.
Taliban chief Mullah Omar is dead, the Afghan government announced tonight, "confirming" reports about the one-eyed extremist leader who ruled the country with an iron fist between 1996 and 2001.
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