AFGHANISTAN: Leadership council of Taliban, which is also known as Quetta Shura, was reportedly comprised of Pashtoons only but the group has now included members of Tajik, Uzbek and Turkmen tribes into it. According to Pakistan’s The Express Tribune news agency, a news source of Taliban, the new leader of Taliban Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour has almost completed re-organisation of ...

The emergence of the Islamic State group in the Middle East, and its affiliate group in Afghanistan, change many things, among them, speeded a change of the world’s perception to the Taliban insurgent group in Afghanistan. Last month, a senior Russian official said that the country was sharing information with the Taliban as the group is fighting the Islamic State ...

AFGHANISTAN: Rival factions of the Afghan Taliban agreed to stop deadly infighting, officials said, but tensions remained over the status of new leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour, who has not been seen since reportedly being shot last month. Leadership of the Taliban has been in dispute since the confirmation last July of the death of the hard-line Islamist insurgency’s founder, Mullah ...

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 ...

A former top American defense official has said the Taliban offensive in Afghanistan is enabled by the group’s safe havens situated in the neighboring Pakistan besides an internecine struggle among different Taliban factions playing a role in the growing violence. “At the hands of the Taliban. This offensive is enabled by sanctuaries in Pakistan. And it has also been enabled ...

BANNU: By Wasim Baghi: Afghan security forces have killed a key commander of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Said Anwar alias Aryana, along with nine other militants in a raid carried out near Pak-Afghan border in Afghanistan’s province Paktia. Sources confirmed that Aryana has been killed in a clash with security forces of Afghanistan. Aryana remained a closed friend of Ex-TTP head Hakim ...

AFGHANISTAN: The Ministry of Interior on Tuesday said Taliban and Daesh fighters are being trained in Pakistan and then sent to Afghanistan to fight security forces. Interior Minister Noorulhaq Olomi said insurgents are recruiting the youth and are continuing their attacks on Afghanistan while giving orders from Pakistan. Speaking at an event on Tuesday which saw security forces destroy 19,000 ...