Taliban | Pakistan

Chief of Defence Forces and Chief of Army Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir on Wednesday said that peace between Pakistan and Afghanistan could only prevail if the Taliban regime “renounced their support for terrorism and terrorist organisations”. According to a statement by Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), CDF Munir made the remarks as he visited Wana in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s South Waziristan to review the prevailing security situation and operational preparedness along the Western border. “He reiterated that peace could only prevail between both sides if the Afghan Taliban renounced their support for terrorism and terrorist organisations,” the statement said. It said that CDF Munir laid a floral wreath at the martyrs’ monument to pay homage to those who had rendered supreme sacrifices in defence of the motherland. “He offered fateha and reaffirmed that the sacrifices of shuhada remain the cornerstone of Pakistan’s security and resilience,” it added. During the visit, CDF Munir was given a comprehensive b...

Taliban ammo dump pulverised as operation continues unabated

Information minister says 182 Taliban checkposts destroyed; Pakistani forces take control of 31 additional posts

• Qatar, Saudi Arabia lead diplomatic scramble; Iran offers to facilitate talks • Trump ‘refuses’ to intervene because of ‘fondness’ for Pakistan • UN, China, Russia, UK call for immediate ceasefire ISLAMABAD: Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers said on Friday they were willing to negotiate after Pakistan unleashed air strikes on major Afghan cities, killing dozens in the most serious clashes between the allies-turned-foes, which Defence Minister Khawaja Asif described as an “open war”. The Afghan Taliban, who claimed to have launched “retaliatory attacks” over strikes against terrorists’ hideouts last weekend, said on Friday that they were “ready for dialogue”. “Afghanistan… has always preferred to reso­lve issues based on mutual understanding and respect,” the Afghan foreign ministry quoted Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi as telling Qatar’s junior Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulaziz Al-Khalifi by telephone. Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid echoed that sentiment, saying “now also we want to resolve th...

DG ISPR says enemy conducted incursions at 53 locations across 15 sectors; 297 Taliban operatives killed

The Foreign Office (FO) on Friday warned that any further provocation by the Afghan Taliban regime and terrorist groups “will be met with a measured, decisive and befitting response”. The statement came in the aftermath of Pakistan launching Operation Ghazab lil-Haq against the Afghan Taliban after “unprovoked firing” from across the border overnight. In its statement, the FO said that Pakistan’s actions came in response to “repeated terrorist attacks by Fitna-al-Khawarij and Fitna-al-Hindustan against Pakistan emanating from Afghan soil, as well as the latest unwarranted and provocative actions by the Taliban regime”. Fitna al Khawarij is a term the state uses for terrorists belonging to the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), while Fitna al Hindustan is a term designated by the state for terrorist organisations in Balo­chistan. It said that the armed forces carried out “precise operations, inflicting heavy losses on terrorist outfits and targeting their logistical support bases in Afghanistan” on the n...

72 Taliban operatives killed in Op 'Ghazab Lil Haq'; Multiple Afghan posts, arms depot destroyed

The UN Security Council on Thursday unanimously adopted a resolution extending by one year the mandate of the Monitoring Team that supports the 1988 Afghanistan Sanctions Committee, which oversees sanctions imposed on the Taliban. All 15 council members voted in favor of the US-drafted resolution, renewing the Monitoring Team’s mandate until February 17, 2027. The extension comes amid mounting international concern over Afghanistan’s deteriorating security situation, the growing influence of multiple terrorist groups, and the potential for regional destabilisation. Pakistan, which supported the resolution, stressed the ongoing threat posed by Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), ISIL-Khorasan (ISIL-K), Majeed Brigade, and Al-Qaeda. Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the UN, said these groups “have been responsible for some of the most heinous terrorist attacks against Pakistan,” citing recent attacks that killed 80 people this month alone. “On...

Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai has urged countries around the world to mount pressure on the Taliban and avoid maintaining normal diplomatic relations with the Afghan regime, citing worsening restrictions on women’s rights and girls’ education.

• Report claims Hibatullah Akhundzada ‘spooked’ by possibility of schism between his hardline base in the south, more pragmatic ministers in the capital • Zabihullah Mujahid ‘confirms’ existence of audio recording, but terms BBC claim ‘unfounded’ A STARK message from the Taliban supreme leader, warning of internal threats to the Islamic Emirate, has seemingly laid bare the long-speculated divide bet­ween Kandahar and Kabul, BBC News reported. An audio recording of a speech — delivered by Hibat­ullah Akhundzada at a seminary in Kandahar aro­und a year ago — contains what some are interpreting as confirmation of differences among top Taliban leaders. In the leaked clip, obtained by the BBC, Akhundzada can be heard saying that internal disagreements could eventually bring them all down. According to the investigation by BBC Afghan, two distinct groups have eme­rged within the Afghan Tali­ban, each presenting competing visions for how Afgh­anistan should be governed. One is entirely loyal to the Akhundzada-led Ka...

The United Nations called on the Taliban authorities on Sunday to lift its ban on Afghan women working in its offices, saying the restriction puts “life-saving services” at risk. Since the Taliban regained power in 2021, Afghan women have been barred from doing most jobs, visiting parks and beauty salons, and attending school beyond the age of 12. In September, the Taliban authorities began prohibiting women staff members from entering UN offices. “We call for the ban on Afghan women staff and contractors from entering United Nations premises to be reversed, and for their safe access to offices and the field,” Susan Ferguson, the special representative of the UN’s women’s agency in Afghanistan, said in a statement. “The longer these restrictions remain in place, the greater the risk to these life-saving services,” Ferguson said, adding that they violated the UN’s principles of human rights and equality. The statement did not say how many staff were affected, but UN sources indicated that several hundred women...

A final report by a US watchdog has confirmed that billions of dollars’ worth of American-supplied weapons, military equipment, and security infrastructure left behind during the 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan now form the backbone of the Taliban’s security apparatus. Parallel findings from UN monitoring teams and a Washington Post investigation indicate that some of these weapons have already filtered to the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), strengthening a group responsible for escalating attacks inside Pakistan. The 137-page report, released this week by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), recounts the scale of the two-decade American project to rebuild Afghanistan. Congress, it notes, provided roughly $144.7 billion between 2002 and 2021 to reconstruct the country and to support a democratic transition — “yet ultimately delivered neither.” Recent UN assessments reinforce the regional implications of that failure. A UN panel reported that the Afghan Taliban contin...

SYDNEY: Australia imposed financial sanctions and travel bans on four officials in Afghanistan’s Taliban government on Saturday over what it said was a deteriorating human rights situation in the country, especially for women and girls. Australia’s Foreign Minister Penny Wong said the officials were involved “in the oppression of women and girls and in undermining good governance or the rule of law” in Afghanistan. Australia was one of several nations which pulled troops out of Afghanistan in Aug 2021, after being part of a Nato-led international force that trained Afghan security forces and fought the Taliban for two decades after Western-backed forces ousted them from power in 2001. The Taliban, since regaining power in Afghanistan, have been criticised for deeply restricting the rights and freedom of women and girls through bans on education and work. The Taliban government says it respects women’s rights, in line with its interpretation of Islamic law and local custom. Wong, the Australian foreign ministe...

FO blames Taliban for Turkish delegation delay

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.

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...

Pakistan and the European Union (EU) on Saturday urged the Taliban administration to take “serious and practical” steps to eliminate terrorism, stressing that peace in Afghanistan is essential for regional stability.

The Foreign Office (FO) has warned that terrorist attacks on Pakistan have increased since the Taliban assumed power in Afghanistan.

Defence minister says any terrorist attack or suicide bombing inside Pakistan shall give Taliban bitter taste of misadventures Info minister says dialogue failed as Taliban resorted to blame game.

Istanbul talks collapse as Taliban remain intransigent