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Afghanistan after the US withdrawal

Afghanistan after the US withdrawal
US President Joe Biden committed to withdrawing US troops from Afghanistan by August 31, 2021. The deadline was set after the Taliban took control of the country, seizing the capital city of Kabul as the Afghan government under President Ashraf Ghani dissolved on August 15. The Biden administration had initially announced a full withdrawal of troops by 11 September 2021 – 20 years after the 9/11 terror attacks.
An Afghan man walks next to the site where a drug rehabilitation centre was destroyed in an air strike in Kabul on Wednesday. Photo: Reuters
Pakistan

Pakistan announces 5-day pause on Afghan strikes for Eid

The temporary ceasefire comes after Monday’s hospital strike, the deadliest in an escalating conflict between the two neighbours.

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War and conflict

Video | Survivors recount deadly air strike on Kabul drug rehab hospital

Afghanistan

‘People were burning’: 400 dead after Pakistan strikes hit Kabul hospital

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War and conflict

Opinion | Pakistan’s forever war and the politics of exhaustion

What Pakistan needs is not war with Afghanistan but urgent efforts to fix its economy, security and divided society after disruptive decades.

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People gather around the coffin of an army soldier, killed in the border clashes between Pakistani and Afghan forces, during a funeral prayer in a village in Lakki Marwat, a district of Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on February 28. Photo: AP
Pakistan

Blasts in Kabul as Afghan government says responding to Pakistan attacks

Diplomatic efforts have failed to secure a truce between Pakistan and the Taliban, with Saudi Arabia and Qatar engaged in efforts to halt the fighting.

Pakistan

‘Managed escalation’: Pakistan-Taliban stand-off enters dangerous new phase

With positions entrenched, mediation efforts by regional powers are unlikely to deliver a swift breakthrough, observers say.

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Pakistan

China seeks to mediate after Pakistan declares ‘open war’ on Afghanistan

Beijing calls on Islamabad and Kabul to stay calm and exercise restraint as relations between the neighbours plummet.

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Taliban security personnel keep watch for air strikes in Khost province, Afghanistan on Friday following overnight cross-border fighting with Pakistan. Photo: AFP
Pakistan

Pakistan declares ‘open war’ with Afghan Taliban, attacks Kabul, Kandahar

The air strikes came hours after Afghan forces attacked Pakistani border troops in what the Taliban government said was retaliation.

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Pakistan

Pakistan claim of killing 80 militants ‘false’, Taliban security source says

The Afghan Defence Ministry said ‘various civilian areas’ in eastern Afghanistan were hit, including a religious madrasa and multiple homes.

Afghanistan

61 die in Afghanistan, 110 injured, amid heavy snow and rain

The death toll could rise, authorities say, amid checks of affected regions and with over 450 homes completely or partially destroyed.

Afghan men walk along a snow-covered path in Panjshir province on Friday. Photo: AFP
Central Asia

Why are Afghan-Tajikistan border tensions such a headache for China?

A suicide bombing at a restaurant in Kabul is just the latest sign of how Chinese citizens can become caught up in the region’s instability.

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A Chinese man and at least six Afghans were killed in a restaurant bombing in central Kabul on Monday. Photo: AFP
Afghanistan

Video | Resistance museum changes under Taliban rule

The museum no longer has a ‘hall of fame’ gallery featuring portraits of mujahideen commanders, including some who fought against the ruling Taliban.

Afghanistan: All stories

China urges Taliban to tighten security after suicide attack on restaurant in Kabul

Militant group Isis-K claimed responsibility for the attack in the Afghan capital, says it has placed Chinese nationals on its target list.

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Central Asia

Afghan boy, 13, executes family’s killer in echoes of worst days of Taliban rule

The public execution, the 11th carried out since the Taliban seized power in 2021, has drawn global condemnation.

A Taliban policeman looks on as a crowd heads toward a stadium to attend the public execution on Tuesday. Photo: AP
Gun violence in the US

National Guard shooting suspect pleads not guilty to murder from hospital bed

The judge ordered Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, held in custody without bond, citing the ‘sheer terror’ of the fatal ambush in Washington.

Tributes are seen on Tuesday at the scene where two National Guard members were shot in Washington. Photo: EPA
Gun violence in the US

Trump orders review of immigrant visas after National Guard attack

The sweeping new policy follows Wednesday’s attack in Washington by an Afghan national that has caused one death.

Gun violence in the US

National Guard member dies as Afghan attacker’s past CIA link emerges

Shooting suspect Rahmanullah Lakanwal is a former member of a CIA-backed Afghan Army unit who entered the US under a special programme.

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Pakistan

Can mediators prevent war between Afghanistan, Pakistan as tensions spike?

Prolonged proxy warfare could create space for terrorist groups such as Isis-K to regenerate and plot overseas attacks, analysts warn.

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Residents clear debris from houses destroyed in air strikes in Khost, Afghanistan, on Tuesday. Photo: EPA
Pakistan

Afghan, Pakistani negotiators to strengthen truce in Istanbul

Islamabad has repeatedly accused its Afghan neighbour of ‘harbouring’ groups it views as ‘terrorist’, primarily the Pakistani Taliban, which Kabul denies.

Pakistan

Pakistan and Afghanistan agree to ceasefire after deadly fighting

Mediated by Qatar and Turkey, the truce came into effect immediately and is intended to pause hostilities that killed dozens and injured hundreds.

US-China relations

Trump’s Afghan airbase gambit unites India, Pakistan and China in opposition

At Moscow talks, regional rivals joined Russia and Iran in rejecting US president’s bid to reclaim Bagram airbase from the Taliban.

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Government officials meet on the sidelines of the 7th Moscow Format Consultations on Afghanistan in Moscow on Tuesday. Photo: DPA
Afghanistan

Mobile and internet restored in Afghanistan after Taliban-ordered cut

The 48-hour outage caused chaos, disrupting finance, trade and online learning.

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An Afghan man speaks on a mobile phone in Kabul on Wednesday. Photo: AFP
Taliban

US citizen released by Afghanistan’s Taliban after visit by envoy

The foreign ministry identified the prisoner as Amir Amiri and said he had been handed over to Adam Boehler, US special envoy on hostages.

US-China relations

Beijing leads push against Trump’s bid to reclaim Afghan airbase

In a joint statement, China, Russia, Iran and Pakistan call for ‘respect’ for Afghan sovereignty to counter US military presence.

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Central Asia

Trump demands Bagram airbase, ‘not possible’ Taliban says

Trump threatened punishment against Afghanistan if the base was not returned, four years after it was abandoned by US troops in a deal he brokered.

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US President Donald Trump answers questions from reporters at the White House in Washington on Saturday. Photo: Xinhua
US-China relations

Does Trump’s push for Afghan air base risk inflaming US-China rivalry?

US leader says he wants to regain control of Bagram Air Base because of its proximity to Chinese nuclear facilities in Xinjiang.

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Bagram Air Base is located less than 800km from Afghanistan’s border with China’s Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region. Photo: AP
Donald Trump

Trump says ‘bad things’ will happen if Afghanistan does not return Bagram base

The US president has often lamented the loss of access to the facility, noting its proximity to China.

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Afghanistan

Taliban free UK couple held for months in Afghanistan on undisclosed charges

There has been no explanation for the detention of Peter and Barbie Reynolds, aged 80 and 75, who remained after the Taliban seized power.

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