Fierce fighting between Afghan forces and Taliban militants has left at least 20 government troops dead, even as peace talks continued in an effort to end the 19-year war.
Three suspected rebels and a 45-year-old woman were killed on September 17 during a gunbattle between government forces and anti-India rebels in the main city of disputed Kashmir, officials said.
The Taliban is “close to achieving financial and military independence,” a scenario that could make the militant group resistant to compromise in peace talks aimed at ending the war in Afghanistan, according to a secret NATO report seen by RFE/RL.
A psychological exam has been ordered for a Pakistani doctor who has been in custody in the U.S. state of Minnesota since his arrest in March on a terrorism charge.
Frequent reports of targeted assassinations, clashes, and attacks on security forces leave the residents of Waziristan worried over the specter of the region in western Pakistan relapsing into anarchy.
The two parties to intra-Afghan peace talks have exchanged positions in the Qatari capital, Doha, in what diplomats on September 16 described as a warm and "surprisingly positive" mood.
Indian and Pakistani soldiers barraged each other with mortar shells and gunfire along the highly militarized frontier in Kashmir, killing an Indian soldier and wounding two others, an official said on September 16.
The UN Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution on September 15 welcoming the start of negotiations between representatives of the Afghan government and the Taliban, encouraging the warring parties to aim for a permanent cease-fire.
A Pakistani soldier was killed and three others wounded when their vehicle hit an improvised explosive device in the northwestern South Waziristan tribal district.
The Afghan government intensified calls for a cease-fire with the Taliban on September 14 as Kabul and the militants began the second day of historic peace talks.
As delegations of Afghan society and the hard-line Taliban Islamist movement decide the agenda of expected lengthy talks over their country’s future political system, the issue of a cease-fire between their combatants looms large over the peace process.
The most intense of the clashes on September 12 were in Kunduz, where the Taliban again jostled with security forces for control of key highways and the Afghan military deployed air and artillery strikes.
Load more
