• Tells Taliban to fulfil promises on inclusive govt • Moscow asks Washington to unfreeze Afghan central bank assets • Xi expects Kabul to ‘resolutely fight all forms of terrorism’ and live in peace with its neighbours • Imran proposes a five-point way forward for regional bloc DUSHANBE: While asking the Afghan Taliban to yield […]
Chinese astronauts returned to earth on Friday after completing the country’s longest-ever crewed mission, the latest landmark in Beijing’s drive to become a major space power. The capsule carrying the three astronauts was suspended on a parachute and landed in the Gobi desert at 1:35pm local time (05:35 GMT). The crew of the Shenzhou-12 […]
Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Taliban co-founder and now deputy prime minister of Afghanistan, has been named among the “100 Most Influential People” of 2021 by Time magazine. Baradar’s profile for Time’s list, written by veteran journalist Ahmed Rashid, noted that he “is revered” among the Afghan Taliban as a founding member, “a charismatic military leader and a deeply pious […]
US President Joe Biden denied on Tuesday a media report that his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, last week turned down an offer from Biden for a face-to-face meeting. The Financial Times cited multiple people briefed on a 90-minute call between the two leaders last week as saying Xi did not take Biden up on the offer and instead insisted that Washington […]
China on Tuesday hit out at the upcoming first-ever Quad summit to be hosted by US President Joe Biden, saying the formation of “cliques” targeting other countries “won’t be popular” and has “no future”. President Biden would host the first in-person Quad summit on September 24 in Washington which will be attended by Prime Minister […]
The international community has announced over USD 1.2 billion in aid for the Afghanistan humanitarian crisis, with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres underlining the importance to engage with the Taliban to ensure continued humanitarian assistance in the country and address other concerns, including terrorism, human rights and the nature of the government. The United Nations […]
WASHINGTON: The United States spent $290 million every day for 7,300 days on its war efforts and nation-building projects in Afghanistan, says a report compiled by Brown University. That’s how the United States ended up spending more than $2 trillion in the last 20 years in Afghanistan, the report by the university’s Costs of War project added. […]
WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden and Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping talked for the first time in seven months on Thursday, with both leaders urging a path away from conflict but holding ground on fierce competition between the two superpowers. In the 90-minute call, Biden warned against misunderstandings that could lead to confrontation between Washington and […]
NEW DELHI: Leaders of the five-nation BRICS club (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday called for settling the situation in Afghanistan through peaceful means. The declaration at the virtual summit held through video conference said the leaders also sought an “inclusive intra-Afghan dialogue so as to ensure […]
Roya Rahmani, Afghanistan’s first female ambassador to the United States who left her post in July, is clearly horrified by the Taliban takeover of her country. But she is not surprised. In an interview, Rahmani accused the former US-backed government in Kabul of a failure to lead the country and of widespread corruption that ultimately […]