AFGHANISTAN: The Ministry of Interior (MoI) on Saturday appealed to the public to refrain from shooting in the air in the event of the Afghan national football team winning its match against India on Sunday. Afghanistan is scheduled to take on India in the finals of the South Asian Football Federation ( SAFF) championship cup in India on Friday evening. ...

AFGHANISTAN: Nearly 59 individuals who were held captive by Taliban militants in Greshk and Nahr Siraj districts in Helmand were freed in a special military operation by Army Commando troops on Friday night. The Defense Ministry spokesman, Dawlat Waziri, said the special operation was launched on Friday and the hostages were freed in a special operation by Army Commando troops ...

KABUL: At least three people were killed and 15 were wounded in a suicide attack on a guesthouse used by foreigners in Thaimani area of Kabul on Friday evening, an official said. The guesthouse – Le Jardin is located in the vicinity of 9th street of Taimani area in 4th police district of the city which is mostly visited by the foreigners. ...

A Pakistan Foreign Ministry spokesman said on Thursday that talks on how to restart a tentative peace dialogue with Afghanistan’s Taliban insurgents would be held in Islamabad next month, contradicting an Afghan statement that they would be in Kabul. “Consultations are underway to host the first meeting of the Quadrilateral Co-ordination Committee in Islamabad in the second half of January. ...

KABUL – Russian President’s special envoy for Afghanistan, Zamir Kabulov has said that the US and NATO mission in Afghanistan has been a complete failure and the evaluation of the effectiveness of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) there has been negative. The US and NATO mission in Afghanistan has been a complete failure, the Russian President’s special envoy for ...

KABUL – The top US and NATO military commander in Afghanistan may seek additional American troops to help local forces as they struggle to contain the Taliban insurgency, USA Today reported. General John Campbell’s interview with the newspaper comes as the security situation in Afghanistan has deteriorated in the second half of 2015, with an increase in insurgent attacks and ...

AFGHANISTAN: The Counter Criminal Narcotics Justice Task Force (CJTF) officials said on Wednesday that the increase in drug production and trafficking in Afghanistan during 2015 is a matter of serious concern for the Afghan government. According to the CJTF, at least 473 incidents related to drug trafficking and production have been registered by the organization and 598 suspects have been ...

AFGHANISTAN: As Afghan and NATO forces focus in confronting the militant groups of Taliban and Islamic State (IS) or Daesh, concern grows over the re-emergence of al-Qaeda. The New York Times reports that al-Qaeda training camps are sprouting up in Afghanistan, forcing the Pentagon and American intelligence agencies to assess whether they could again become a breeding ground for attacks ...

NANGARHAR: Two deposits of previous stones in Sherzad district of eastern Nangarhar province have long been unprofessionally extracted and the stones smuggled to Pakistan, an official said on Sunday. During an interview with Pajhwok, Sherzad district chief Muallim Mashooq said Taliban earned 12 million Pakistani rupees (nearly 7.7 million afghanis or $113,240) each month in income from the extraction of ...

AFGHANISTAN: Taliban have rejected the report of a meeting between their Supreme Leader Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour and Russian President Vladimir Putin. “A British newspaper ‘The Sunday Times’ published a report claiming that the leader of Islamic Emirate, Amir ul Mumineen Mullah Akhtar Muhammad Mansoor, held a meeting in Tajikistan in the month of September with the Russian president Vladimir Putin.” Stated ...