Afghans seeking medical treatment or escaping threats in their country say their efforts to enter Pakistan are complicated by a thriving black market for visas. Amid reports that visas are being sold for exorbitant prices, the Pakistani embassy has fired 12 staff members over bribery accusations.
This week’s Gandhara Briefing brings you our reporting on the growing opposition to Pakistan’s impending deal with the Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan extremist group, anger over the seemingly coerced confession of an Afghan YouTuber, and forced evictions by the Taliban.
As Pakistan moves closer to a peace deal with the Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan, many in the country are questioning the concessions Islamabad is offering the group -- which they blame for killing tens of thousands of civilians and soldiers.
A Pakistani official has confirmed a deal with the Pakistani Taliban under which an indefinite cease-fire with Islamabad was declared following a round of peace talks brokered by Afghanistan’s Taliban leaders in Kabul.
Since the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan in August, there have been mounting reports of infighting within the militant group. Last week, a senior Taliban official became the first to openly criticize the leadership for its repressive policies in Afghanistan.
Clashes marked protests in Islamabad between supporters of former Prime Minister Imran Khan and Pakistani security forces late on May 25. The following day, police advanced on the remaining protesters, who largely dispersed after Khan issued a six-day ultimatum to the government to call an election.
The Taliban-led government in Afghanistan says four bomb blasts in Kabul and Mazar-e Sharif have killed and injured more than a dozen people.
Tehran has homed in on its drone technology as it looks to keep the security situation in Afghanistan in check and gain regional influence.
Britain’s withdrawal from Afghanistan in August has been sharply criticized as a “disaster and betrayal” in a report by the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee.
The already tense relations between Afghanistan's Taliban authorities and neighboring Tajikistan have worsened in recent weeks. In the latest incident to test the countries' relations, the Taliban closed the border with Tajikistan and seized dozens of Tajik trucks transporting goods to Afghanistan.
A senior Pakistani Army general is overseeing negotiations between Islamabad and the banned hard-line Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP), an official who requested anonymity told RFE/RL.
Islamic State-Khorasan militants have carried out two deadly attacks on the Sufi community in Afghanistan in recent weeks. The Sufis, who follow a mystical and moderate form of Islam, are seen as heretics by extremist Islamist groups. Sufis say they are now too afraid to worship in their mosques.
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