The United States is set to give control of a controversial prison having nearly 3,000 Taliban rebels and terror suspects to the Afghan authorities.
United States President Barack Obama on Friday called his Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai to discuss the current economic situation in the war-ravaged country and the progress in security transition.
Slamming the United States for lack of cooperation in the probe into the massacre of 16 villagers in a house-to-house rampage by an American army sniper, an enraged Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai on Friday said he is at the "the end of the rope".
Mullah Abdul Salaam Zaeef, a former high-ranking member of the Taliban regime has refuted reports that he is involved in any sort of negotiations between the Britain and reclusive Taliban leader Mullah Omar. Earlier, a section of the British media had reported that Mullah Zaeef's recent visit to London was aimed at facilitate British-sponsored talks between Afghan President Hamid Karzai and senior members of the Taliban.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday held bilateral meetings with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Syrian Premier Wael Nader al-Halqi during which they took stock of their ties and discussed regional and global issues.
"They advised the President and Vice President that another terror attack in Kabul is likely, but that they are taking maximum force protection measures at the Kabul Airport," a White House official said.
As tensions mounted in the Persian Gulf, Pakistan on Thursday assured Iran that it will not provide any assistance to American forces in the event of a United States attack on Tehran.
Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai arrived in Islamabad on Thursday on a two-day state visit for bilateral talks and to attend a tri-lateral summit of Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan that will focus on the regional security situation, officials said.
Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai made a telephone call to his American counterpart Barack Obama to express his condolence on death of more than 30 US soldiers in a helicopter crash.
With India raising concern over Pakistan's increasing involvement in Afghanistan's transition process, President Hamid Karzai on Sunday assured visiting External Affairs Minister S M Krishna that his government will not make any move that is detrimental to New Delhi's interest. Karzai sought to allay India's concerns during his meeting with Krishna, who is in Kabul on a two-day visit. The Afghan President assured Krishna that India was 'uppermost' on his prioritiy list.
Pakistan's powerful Inter-Services Intelligence is providing safe haven to the Taliban leadership and the West need not mount a military operation to capture Mullah Omar as the elusive insurgent chief "is with them," according to Afghanistan's former spy chief.
The two-day visit to New Delhi of Professor Burhanudin Rabbani, chairman of the high peace council of Afghanistan, from July 14 will be an occasion for Indian leaders to have detailed discussions on the reconciliation process initiated in Afghanistan with the Taliban groups.
United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton telephoned Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai to condole the assassination of his younger half-brother Ahmed Wali Karzai, her spokesperson said.
The president of Afghanistan Hamid Karzai on Thursday renewed his call to Taliban supreme leader Mullah Omar to give up violence.
The United States had reached a tentative deal with the Taliban to allow, among other things, the transfer of five Afghans from the Guantanamo Bay prison in lieu of their public renunciation of terrorism, but the agreement failed to take off because of Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai's objections. A report in the Washington Post has claimed that the deal was the closest the two parties came to genuine peace negotiations after nearly a year of talks.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai arrived in Islamabad on Friday on a two-day visit during which he will hold talks with Pakistan's leadership to boost the reconciliation process with the Taliban in the war-ravaged country.
Afghanistan's "accusatory" stance towards Pakistan will not help bilateral ties, Islamabad's envoy at the United Nations has said, advising President Hamid Karzai to "take a leaf out of India's book" and learn from the "enormous maturity" it has shown in dealing with issues. He noted that a "massive change around" has come today in India-Pakistan relations as compared to the post-26/11 environment.
The US has the distinction of destroying a flawed but functioning State thrice since 1979. Pakistan has been their constant accomplice, explains Shekhar Gupta.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday returned to Delhi after a two-day visit to Afghanistan, during which he held talks with the Afghan leadership on several bilateral, regional and international issues, including terrorism and stepped up assistance to the war-torn country. Dr Singh held talks with Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai, First Vice President Mohammad Qasim Fahim and Second Vice President Mohammad Karim Khalili.
In his long overdue visit to Afghanistan, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai bonded as expected, but both sides played it safe.
United States President Barack Obama on Sunday met his Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai to discuss the transition process in Afghanistan. "We recognise the hardship that the Afghan people have been through. Both of us recognise that we still have a lot of work to do. The loss of life continues in Afghanistan. There will be hard days ahead, but we are confident that we are on the right track," Obama told reporters in a joint press meet.
There were speculations galore about the Pakistan premier's early departure in the wake of the Indo-Pak bilateral talks, reports Prasanna D Zore from Addu
Tahir Ali assesses Pakistan's draining popularity among Afghanistan's power circles and the Taliban, both of whom are fed up with Islamabad's double-standards
Peace talks with the Taliban, trade and security would be high on the agenda during a meeting between Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani in the Afghan capital Kabul.
Initial reports state that one person died and three others have been injured.
After being critical of Pakistan over its links with Taliban militants, Afghan President Hamid Karzai has now said his country would stand by Islamabad in the event of hostilities with any nation, including the United States or India. "God forbid, if at any time there is a war between Pakistan and America, then we will be with Pakistan," Karzai said.
Applauding India's key role in Afghanistan, the United States has said that New Delhi has been helpful in providing training to the security forces of the war-torn country to help improve the situation there.
Pakistan on Friday said Afghanistan should properly check its facts before making allegations that a plot to kill Afghan President Hamid Karzai was hatched on its soil. The Afghan intelligence agency said on Thursday that it had thwarted a plot to assassinate Karzai by arresting a bodyguard and five persons with links to the Haqqani network and the Al Qaeda. Officials said the plot had its origins in Pakistan's Waziristan tribal region.
The United Nations Security Council has dropped five prominent Taliban members from its sanctions blacklist under an ambitious national reconciliation plan of Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai.
In its first public appeal to Taliban and other Afghanistan-based militant groups, Pakistan on Friday asked them to "turn a new leaf" and join direct talks with the Kabul government under a peace process aimed at ending the decade-old war in the neighbouring country.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has pointed out that Washington's current difficulties with Islamabad are nothing new and a repeat of earlier disagreements.
'The curtain is coming down on India's leadership role as a regional power even before the drama of the Asian Century truly began,' warns Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Echoing India's concerns over Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai's move toward reconciliation and reintegration of segments of the Taliban into the Afghan government -- which has been endorsed by the Obama administration -- Dr Abdullah Abdullah, erstwhile Afghan foreign minister and Karzai's nemesis, who was a candidate in the controversial 2009 presidential elections, said pursuing such a policy would be a futile exercise.
Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai urged United States Senators to secure strong American support for Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari in his efforts to free his country from extremism, according to a classified US diplomatic cable released by whistleblower website Wikileaks.
United States President Barack Obama, during his unannounced visit to Afghanistan, assured his counterpart Hamid Karzai of smooth transition of the country's security to Afghan forces as American troops will begin winding down next summer.
Afghan-Taliban commanders Aminullah and Maulvi Bismillah represented supreme militant commander Mullah Omer in three round of talks with the government of Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who "partially participated" in the parleys, sources familiar with the process told PTI on Wednesday.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai wants the United States to reduce the visibility and intensity of its "intrusive" military operations, saying people of the war-torn nation have lost patience with the presence of American troops in their homes that could exacerbate Taliban insurgency.
Zardari is "said to have quietly given names of four international personalities--Former US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai, Saudi Arabian intelligence chief Prince Muqran bin Abdul Aziz and the UAE intelligence chief to the UN inquiry commission to ask them: how did they know the secret in advance that Benazir Bhutto would be killed?" The News Daily reported on Thursday.
Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai might have described Pakistan and Afghanistan as 'co-joined' twins, but experts believe that there is underlying tension simmering between both nations.
To step up pace of reconciliation talks, the Afghanistan government has opened direct contacts with the Al Qaeda-linked Haqqani faction of Taliban, which is believed to have close ties to Pakistan's military intelligence. Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai's government has been in direct contact with Jalaludin Haqqani, the ageing leader of the Haqqani network, which is based in Pakistan and run by his eldest son Sirajudin.
