30-09-2022 By SJA Jafri + Bureau Report KABUL/ ISLAMABAD: A suicide bomber has attacked an educational institute in the Afghan capital, martyring and injuring dozens more Shia Muslims while the Taliban did nothing more than crud as per their decades-old routine and practice, world has also now become almost complete …

29-09-2022 By SJA Jafri + AFP ISLAMABAD/ WASHINGTON/ KABUL: Pakistan’s foreign minister wants the world to engage with the Taliban, warning of dangerous consequences if Afghanistan’s rulers are again isolated. In an interview with AFP news agency on Tuesday during a visit to Washington, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari cautioned against creating …

28-09-2022 By SJA Jafri + Bureau Report + Agencies ISLAMABAD/ KABUL/ MOSCOW: The Taliban have signed a provisional deal with Russia to supply gasoline, diesel, gas and wheat to Afghanistan, Acting Afghan Commerce and Industry Minister Haji Nooruddin Azizi told Reuters. Azizi said his ministry was working to diversify its …

22-09-2022 By SJA Jafri + Bureau Report + Agencies UNITED NATIONS/ KABUL/ ISLAMABAD: After pleading with world leaders at the United Nations to protect the education and rights of women in Afghanistan a year after the Taliban took over, Somaya Faruqi, the former captain of the Afghan girls’ robotics team, …

19-09-2022 By SJA Jafri + Bureau Report ISLAMABAD/ KARACHI: A court in Pakistan has ordered that terrorism charges against former Prime Minister Imran Khan be dropped, his lawyer says. The court on Monday said Khan’s alleged offence did not attract terrorism charges, defence lawyer Faisal Chaudhry said. Khan, aged 69, …

16-09-2022 By Syed Najaf Ali Shoukat + Bureau Report + Agencies BAGHDAD/ NAJAF/ KARBALA/ KARACHI: Iraqi authorities have increased security nationwide in anticipation of the annual Shi’a Arba’een pilgrimage Sept. 16-17, when millions of pilgrims will converge on the holy city of Karbala. Attendance at this year’s event is expected …

15-09-2022 By SJA Jafri + Bureau Report KABUL/ ISLAMABAD: The Taliban are “looking into” a video circulating on social media that appears to show its fighters executing captured members of an anti-Taliban Afghan insurgent group (mostly Shia Muslims), a government spokesman said Wednesday. The National Resistance Front (NRF), a nascent …

14-09-2022 By SJA Jafri + Bureau Report KABUL/ UNITED NATIONS/ ISLAMABAD: Taliban authorities on Tuesday condemned UN accusations that they are violating the rights of women to work in Afghanistan, insisting thousands are employed in the country’s public sector but Sharafuddin Sharaf, chief of staff at the ministry of labour …

14-09-2022 By SJA Jafri + Bureau Report ISLAMABAD/ KARACHI/ WASHINGTON: The United States has expressed concern over press freedom in Pakistan after a television channel considered to be sympathetic towards former Prime Minister Imran Khan was briefly blocked by the government. “We are concerned that media and content restrictions, as …

13-09-2022 By SJA Jafri + Bureau Report + Agencies GENEVA/ KABUL/ ISLAMABAD: Shia Afghan women made an impassioned plea at the UN Monday for solid international action to address the “gender apartheid” in their country since the Taliban swept to power last year. “Today, human rights in Afghanistan do not …