Afghanistan | Pakistan

Five Chinese nationals have been killed and five more injured in Tajikistan in attacks launched from neighbouring Afghanistan over the past week, Tajik authorities and China’s embassy in the Central Asian country said on Monday. China’s embassy in Dushanbe, the capital, advised Chinese companies and personnel to urgently evacuate the border area. It said that Chinese citizens had been targeted in an armed attack close to the Afghan border on Sunday. On Friday, it said that another border attack — which Tajik authorities said had involved drones dropping grenades — had killed three Chinese citizens. Tajikistan, a mountainous former Soviet republic of around 11 million people with a secular government, has tense relations with the Taliban authorities in Afghanistan. It has previously warned of drug smugglers and illicit gold miners working along the remote frontier. China, which also has a remote, mountainous border with Tajikistan, is a major investor in the country. There was no immediate response on Monday f...

Saudi Arabia quietly facilitated a round of direct talks between Pakistan and Afghanistan aimed at easing tensions over cross-border terrorism, but the discussions wrapped up late on Sunday without any breakthrough, according to two sources familiar with the meeting. The closed-door session in Riyadh ended with both sides holding firm to their longstanding positions and showing little willingness to compromise, the sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the talks were not publicly acknowledged. The sources added that another Saudi-hosted round remains possible in the near future. The Riyadh engagement, which took place as a separate track co-mediated by Turkiye and Qatar remains stalled. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had earlier announced plans to dispatch a delegation to Pakistan, but the visit has yet to materialise. The Turkiye-Qatar initiative produced a fragile ceasefire after clashes in early October, though Foreign Office spokesperson Tahir Andrabi said at a weekly briefing o...

The Foreign Office (FO) said on Friday that the current ceasefire with Afghanistan was not a “traditional” one but contingent on whether any terrorist activity took place against Pakistan from the neighbouring country’s soil. Relations between Pakistan and the Afghan Taliban are at their lowest point in the four years since the group came to power. Border crossings bet­ween the two countries have remained closed since October 11 and trade has been at a standstill following ground fighting and Pakistani airstrikes across their 2,600-kilometre frontier that killed dozens on both sides in the worst fighting since the Taliban’s 2021 takeover of Kabul. Following those clashes, Turkiye and Qatar stepped in to mediate. The first round in Doha produced a fragile ceasefire, while the second, also in Doha, ended with only a general agreement to develop a mechanism for verifying compliance and a decision to continue talks. The third round concluded without any concrete agreement. The situation deteriorated again followi...

The Foreign Office (FO) has condemned the attack which claimed the lives of three Chinese workers in Tajikistan, saying that the use of armed drones in the incident underlined the “gravity of the threat emanating from Afghanistan and the brazenness of those behind it”. Tajik authorities said on Thursday that three Chinese workers in Tajikistan were killed in an attack launched from Afghanistan near the border. The foreign ministry said a drone and firearm attack hit workers of a Chinese company in the country’s south. “The attack, carried out with firearms and a drone loaded with grenades, claimed the lives of three employees of Chinese nationality,” it said in a statement. Dushanbe rarely comments officially on such incidents, and it did not say who it suspects carried out the attack. Subsequently, the FO, in a statement issued early on Friday, expressed Pakistan’s condolences and solidarity with China and Tajikistan over the lives lost in a “heinous terrorist attack in Tajikistan near its border with Afghan...

At least three Chinese workers in Tajikistan were killed in an attack launched from Afghanistan near the border, Tajik authorities said on Thursday. Tajikistan has strained relations with the Taliban regime in Afghanistan and several border clashes have broken out in recent months. The foreign ministry said a drone and firearm attack hit workers of a Chinese company in the country’s south.’ “The attack, carried out with firearms and a drone loaded with grenades, claimed the lives of three employees of Chinese nationality,” it said in a statement. Dushanbe rarely comments officially on such incidents, and it did not say who it suspects carried out the attack. Militants are active in the mountainous border region, which spans around 1,350 kilometres between the two countries. Muslim-majority Tajikistan, one of the poorest countries in the former Soviet Union, has been concerned about possible flare-ups in extremism since the Taliban returned to power in 2021. Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon, in power since 1992...

US FBI Director Kash Patel said on Thursday that the suspected shooter of two National Guard members had worked in Afghanistan with partner forces. “We are fully investigating that aspect of his background as well to include any known associates that are either overseas or here in the United States of America, that is what a broad-based international terrorism investigation looks like,” Patel said at a news conference. The suspect worked with “the US government, including CIA, as a member of a partner force in Kandahar,” during the US war in Afghanistan, CIA Director John Ratcliffe told the New York Times and Fox News. The two soldiers, part of a militarised law enforcement mission ordered by President Donald Trump months ago and challenged in court by Washington DC officials, were hospitalised and had come through surgery, Attorney General Pam Bondi said. The suspect, who was wounded in an exchange of gunfire before he was arrested, was identified by the Department of Homeland Security as Rahmanullah Lakanwa...

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan Army on Tuesday rejected Taliban accusations that its forces carried out over-night airstrikes inside Afghanistan’s Khost province, after an explosion killed 10 civilians, including nine children.

Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General (DG) Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry refuted allegations by the Afghan Taliban on Tuesday that Pakistan had conducted overnight strikes in Afghanistan, state media reported. The statement by the head of the military’s media wing came hours after the Afghan Taliban spokesperson accused Pakistan of attacks in Khost, Kunar and Paktika provinces. According to state broadcaster Pakistan TV, the military spokesperson refuted the claims of conducting strikes inside Afghanistan. “Pakistan Army has not attacked civilians inside Afghanistan,” it quoted him as saying. “Whenever Pakistan attacks someone, it announces it,” he said, according to local media. “In our view, there are no good and bad Taliban,” he said, adding that there was “no distinction” between terrorists. “The Taliban government should make decisions as a state, not as non-state actors,” said Gen Chaudhry. He also wondered how long the current set-up in Afghanistan would remain an interim o...

Federal Information Minister Attaullah Tarar on Tuesday said that the November 11 suicide attack in Islamabad was orchestrated from Afghanistan by banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) chief Noor Wali Mehsud.

Zabiullah Mujahid, the spokesman for the Taliban government in Afghanistan, claimed on Tuesday that Pakistan had carried out overnight strikes in the neighbouring country. In a post on social media platform X, he said that Pakistan had “bombed” Khost province, and carried out air strikes in Kunar and Paktika provinces. No official statement has been issued by Pakistan thus far. The strike was reported the same day a deadly suicide attack on the Federal Constabulary headquarters saw three personnel embrace martyrdom and 12 sustain injuries. Pakistan’s bilateral relations with Afghanistan have come under strain in recent times as the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) remains the main point of contention between the two countries. Pakistan has demanded that the rulers in Kabul take action to stop cross-border terrorism, but the Afghan Taliban deny Islamabad’s allegations of terrorists being allowed to use Afghan soil to carry out attacks in Pakistan. During a process of dialogue, which followed border clashes bet...

In a joint statement shared on Sunday, Pakistan and the European Union (EU) called on Afghanistan to deal with terrorist organisations operating from its soil and to ensure the protection of human rights, especially those of women and girls. The development came as the 7th Strategic Dialogue between Pakistan and the EU was convened in Brussels. The meeting was co-chaired by Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar and the EU’s chief diplomat Kaja Kallas. According to a joint statement shared by the Foreign Office (FO), Dar and Kallas discussed relations between Islamabad and Kabul amid cross-border tensions last month, with both top diplomats reaffirming their commitment to regional peace, stability, prosperity, and resolving issues with neighbours through dialogue. “The two sides called on Afghanistan’s de facto authorities to play a constructive role in achieving the shared objective of rooting out terrorism from Afghan soil,” the statement read. It added that Dar and Kallas expressed concern ov...

The information ministry on Thursday said that all terrorists involved in the attack on Cadet College Wana in South Waziristan were Afghan citizens. Security forces confirmed a day ago that they had successfully foiled a terrorist attack on Cadet College Wana, killing all the attackers after an intense clearance operation. The attackers had targeted the main gate of the college on Monday evening and gained entry to the educational institution, but a timely response from security forces averted a major tragedy. Government ministers had linked the attack to Afghanistan and said it was orchestrated from there. “The attack on Cadet College Wana was planned and controlled from Afghanistan. The attack was planned in Afghanistan by kharji Zahid and the final approval was given by kharji Noorwali Mehsud. All the khwarij who attacked Cadet College Wana were Afghan citizens. The equipment for this attack was provided from Afghanistan, which included American-made weapons,” said the information ministry in a statement t...

The foreign ministers of Iran and Russia have called for continued dialogue between Pakistan and Afghanistan to resolve their ongoing disputes on cross-border terrorism. Last week, a third round of talks between Islamabad and Kabul, which were taking place in Istanbul in the presence of mediators, broke down without any agreement, as negotiators failed to bridge deep differences over how to prevent cross-border terrorism. The talks had followed deadly border clashes between the two neighbours in October. Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi spoke on the telephone on Wednesday, during which the two sides exchanged views on the latest bilateral and regional developments. In its statement on Telegram, the Russian foreign ministry said the two ministers “welcomed the agreement reached between Kabul and Islamabad, mediated by the authorities of Qatar and Türkiye, on a mutual ceasefire and an end to cross-border shootings along the Afghan-Pakistani frontier”. “The sides...

Defence Minister Khawaja Asif on Tuesday said attacks on terrorist sanctuaries in Afghanistan could not be ruled out after today’s incidents in Islamabad and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. At least 12 people were killed and 36 were injured in a suicide blast in the federal capital. The incident occurred as international events were being hosted in the capital, including the Inter-Parliamentary Speakers’ Conference and the 6th Margalla Dialogue, while a cricket match between the Green shirts and Sri Lanka was also being held in Pindi. Meanwhile, a clearance operation by security forces continues in Cadet College Wana in South Waziristan against terrorists hiding inside the educational institute. When asked during an interview on Geo News show ‘Aaj Shahzeb Khanzada Kay Sath’ if Pakistan would respond after today’s attacks and statements from the leadership linking them to Afghanistan, Asif said: “God willing”, adding that attacks on terrorist sanctuaries in Afghanistan “could not be ruled out” and could definitely happen....

Pakistan has cautioned the United Nations that the unchecked movement of illegal arms within Afghanistan — many of them modern weapons now being used by anti-Pakistan militant groups — poses a serious threat to regional peace and stability.

Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday called on Afghanistan to take concrete action against the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and other terrorist groups operating from its soil, emphasizing that lasting peace in the region depends on Kabul’s decisive measures.

Türkiye’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, Defence Minister Yasar Guler, and intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin will visit Islamabad next week to discuss tensions between Afghanistan and Pakistan, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday. He made the announcement while speaking to reporters on his flight returning from Azerbaijan. Talks between Pakistan and Afghanistan, which were taking place in Istanbul in the presence of mediators, broke down on Friday without any agreement, as negotiators failed to bridge deep differences over how to monitor and prevent cross-border terrorism, officials and sources said. Defence Minister Khawaja Asif insisted that the negotiations were “over” and had “entered an indefinite phase”. “Right now, as we speak, negotiations are over,” Asif told Geo News, alleging that the Afghan Taliban delegation again came to Istanbul “without any programme” and was unwilling to sign a written agreement. A senior security source confirmed that discussions had hit an impasse. “The talk...

Türkiye's Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, Defense Minister Yasar Guler, and intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin will visit Islamabad next week to discuss tensions between Afghanistan and Pakistan, Turkish president said on Sunday.

Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said on Friday that the talks between Pakistan and Afghanistan on addressing cross-border terrorism are “over” and have “entered an indefinite phase” as negotiators failed to bridge deep differences between the two sides, adding that the ceasefire stands for the time being. “Right now, as we speak, negotiations are over,” said the defence minister while speaking on Geo News programme ‘Aaj Shahzeb Khanzada Kay Sath’. Earlier, officials and sources said the talks stalled without any agreement. “The talks in Istanbul are deadlocked,” a senior security source told reporters, confirming that the third round of discussions — which had began on Thursday in the Turkish capital — had hit an impasse. The defence minister added that the Afghan Taliban delegation again came to Istanbul “without any programme” and that they were not willing to sign a written agreement. “They said that they would only respect the verbal agreement, but there is no room to do that.” Asif elaborated that during t...

A strong earthquake killed at least 20 people in northern Afghanistan, authorities said on Monday, just months after another deadly tremor that left the country reeling. The 6.3-magnitude quake struck overnight at a depth of 28 kilometres with the epicentre near the city of Mazar-i-Sharif, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS). More than 20 people were killed and around 320 were injured in the provinces of Balkh and Samangan, health ministry spokesman Sharafat Zaman told journalists on Monday morning, stressing that this was a preliminary toll. He did not provide a province-wide breakdown of the casualties. Expressing sorrow over the “tragic loss of lives in northern Afghanistan after the deadly earthquake near Mazar-e-Sharif”, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif posted on X that Pakistan “stands in solidarity with our Afghan brothers and sisters in this difficult hour”. “Our heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims and prayers for the swift recovery of the injured,” he said. Residents of Mazar-i...