The rising number of executions of former army and police in Afghanistan is being taken as clear evidence that the Taliban is not living up to its pledges of a general amnesty for all members of the ousted Afghan government's security forces.
A humanitarian crisis is brewing along Pakistan's southwestern border with Iran after Islamabad closed the border indefinitely while it builds a fence. Thousands of fuel carriers are trapped in the remote region as the border closure threatens their dangerous livelihood.
Analysts say the planned unconditional withdrawal of all foreign troops from Afghanistan by September is a major victory for the Taliban.
The Afghan government has lashed out over a new U.S. proposal for the Afghan peace process. Independent experts are also skeptical about the plan, which envisions a power-sharing government with the Taliban, a cease-fire, and a U.N.-sponsored conference of regional and global powers.
In Afghanistan's Pashtun tribal heartland, many turn to tribal councils instead of state courts for swift justice and unlikely routes to reconciliation.
Transparency International says that the coronavirus pandemic has highlighted "widespread corruption" in countries across Eastern Europe and Central Asia, where it says "corrupt and authoritarian" leaders have reduced oversight of government spending and curtailed civil liberties.
In villages and towns across Afghanistan, grieving families mourning the loss of fathers, sons, brothers, and husbands in the country's fratricidal war are united in demanding peace for their country.
Talia Khattak says she was finally allowed to briefly meet with her father, Idris Khattak. The Pakistani human rights campaigner mysteriously disappeared last year but was later charged with spying under a colonial-era law.
A disputed regional election in Pakistan has added to the opposition's grievances. But its ability to oust the government through agitation and pressuring the military still remains an open question.
A spate of deadly urban attacks in Afghanistan has highlighted possible rifts between the Taliban leadership and the allied Haqqani network, the lethal arm of the militant group.
An offensive by Afghanistan’s Taliban militants appears to be aimed at reclaiming Afghanistan’s second city, which once served as the capital for the hard-line movement nearly a quarter-century ago.
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