Afghanistan

  “We always believe that Afghan people express the final opinion about all the country’s affairs,” Zarif said in a meeting with the Afghan special envoy for peace, Mohammad Omar Daudzai, in Tehran on Saturday. As the Afghans’ representative, the Kabul government then makes decisions about the country’s affairs, he added. Zarif also voiced Tehran’s support for the Afghans, saying,…

  “I’m announcing a policy of US visa restrictions on those individuals directly responsible for any ICC investigation of US personnel,” Pompeo said at a State Department briefing on Friday. “This includes persons who take or have taken action to request or further such an investigation. These visa restrictions may also be used to deter ICC efforts to pursue allied…

A huge explosion hit Kute Sangi District, west of the capital city Kabul on Saturday. Police has blocked the accident area and does not permit people to come near the accident scene. No reports have yet been released on the possible casualties of the incident. Firefighters have been dispatched to accident site and are extinguishing the fire. Earlier, the terrorist…

  According to a statement released by the Afghan Defense Ministry on Wednesday, the incident occurred near an Afghan army post on the outskirts of the provincial capital, Tarin Kot, overnight on Tuesday. The statement said that a joint Afghan and US patrol initially came under fire by what it thought to be a group of Taliban militants. The fire…

  “The Taliban have agreed that peace will require both sides to fully address four core issues, and they are counterterrorism assurances, troop withdrawal, intra-Afghan dialogue and a comprehensive cease-fire,” US State Department spokesman Robert Palladino said Tuesday. He said US envoy Zalmay Khalilzad was returning to Washington for consultations. Khalilzad also said the two sides had reached “agreement in…

  The book entitled, Searching for an Enemy, by Dutch journalist Bette Dam, reveals that the longtime Taliban leader once lived in a secret room inside a building just a few hundred meters from a major US base — Forward Operating Base Lagman — in his home province of Zabul. He later moved to a second building just three miles from…

Pakistan says it has successfully thwarted an alleged attempt by an Indian submarine to enter its waters, amid heightened military tensions between the two nuclear-armed neighbors. “This great feat is a testament of the Pakistan Navy’s superior skills. The Navy will keep defending Pakistan’s naval border. The force has the capability to respond to any aggression,” it said. The Pakistani…

  A heavy fighting has erupted between Afghan soldiers and militants after the Taliban stormed an Afghan army base in the country’s southern province of Helmand, killing at least six soldiers. The militants stormed into the army base — the Corps 215 Maywand in Shorab area of Helmand — at early hours of Friday, said an army source. “Afghan soldiers…

  Taliban attack on a police station in Faryab, northern Afghanistan, has claimed the lives of 5 security forces and injured 2 others. The incident happened in Gheisar district, Afghan media quoted Abdolbaqi Hashemi – member of regional council – as saying. Meanwhile, director of the province for security affairs said in a statement that in the wake of Taliban…