Stories from Afghanistan and India
Afghanistan’s top political rivals signalled a breakthrough in power-sharing talks on Friday, raising hopes for stable leadership amid a coronavirus outbreak and ahead of much-anticipated peace talks with Taliban insurgents. Abdullah Abdullah, who disputed President Ashraf Ghani’s re-election in a […]
After years of persecuting Afghanistan’s religious and ethnic minorities, the Taliban are now trying to win over and recruit from the Shiite Hazara community ahead of intra-Afghan peace talks. The predominantly Sunni insurgents posted a video on their website last […]
A week after a US-led invasion overthrew the Taliban regime in November 2001, a plane carrying a small delegation of Indian diplomats landed in Bagram airbase, north of Kabul, the born-again capital of the newly-liberated country. It marked New Delhi’s […]
On Feb. 29, in a rather understated ceremony in Qatar, Zalmay Khalilzad, U.S. Special Representative, sat next to Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, a leader of the Taliban, and signed an agreement to end the conflict between the two parties. Afghans, […]
On February 29, a date that comes only once in four years, the U.S. administration signed a deal with the Taliban, whom they have been fighting for almost 19 years in Afghanistan. The historic deal signed in Qatar was a result […]
The Afghan Taliban has again hinted at being amenable to a limited ceasefire deal with the United States to push peace negotiations over the line, but has stopped short of making an explicit offer. The ceasefire proposal was revealed to […]
On the last Sunday of 2019, Afghans woke up to an exciting news of the Taliban insurgency agreeing to possible ceasefire, a much-needed respite from the constant violence. Reports suggested that this temporary truce with the US administration could last for […]
The Taliban on Monday rejected reports of a ceasefire in Afghanistan, although analysts said a truce appeared to be only a matter of time. “The fact is that the [Taliban] has no decision on a ceasefire,” spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said. […]
The Taliban’s ruling council agreed on Sunday to enforce a temporary ceasefire across the whole of Afghanistan in a move praised by experts as a “major step forward”. While it is unclear when the ceasefire would begin, AP reported the […]
After a long delay and political disagreements, the Independent Election Commission (IEC) of Afghanistan finally announced last week the preliminary results of the Presidential election, held in September. But the results are unlikely to resolve the political crisis the war-torn country is […]