BEIJING: China tested a nuclear-capable hypersonic missile in August, showing a capability that caught US intelligence by surprise, the Financial Times reported, citing five unnamed sources. The report late on Saturday said the Chinese military launched a rocket carrying a hypersonic glide vehicle that flew through low-orbit space, circling the globe before cruising towards its target, which […]
A senior UN official said on Friday the Taliban told him they will announce “very soon” that all Afghan girls will be allowed to attend secondary schools. Unicef Deputy Executive Director Omar Abdi, who visited Kabul last week, told reporters at UN headquarters that five of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces — Balkh, Jawzjan and Samangan in the […]
The United States said on Friday it has offered to pay unspecified compensation to relatives of 10 people in Afghanistan including seven children who were killed by mistake in a US drone strike as American forces were completing their withdrawal. In a statement, the Pentagon also said it was working with the US State Department to relocate […]
At least seven people were killed and 15 wounded when an explosion hit a Shia mosque in the Afghan city of Kandahar on Friday, a doctor told AFP. “So far seven dead and 13 wounded have been brought to our hospital,” the medic in the southern city’s central hospital said. The explosion caused heavy casualties, a […]
Ankara: A high-level delegation from Afghanistan’s new Taliban rulers has arrived in Turkey for talks with Turkish officials, the Foreign Ministry announced Thursday. The meetings in the capital of Ankara would be first between the Taliban and senior Turkish government officials after the group seized control of Afghanistan. The visiting delegation is led by Amir Khan […]
DUBAI: Qatar’s foreign minister said isolating Afghanistan and its new Taliban rulers will never be an answer and argued on Wednesday that engaging with the former insurgents could empower the more moderate voices among them. Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani spoke amid a flurry of diplomatic meetings taking place in Qatar, where the Taliban […]
Afghanistan’s foreign minister appealed to the world for good relations on Monday but avoided making firm commitments on girls’ education despite international demands to allow all Afghan children to go back to school. Almost two months after the former Western-backed government collapsed and insurgent forces swept into Kabul, the new Taliban administration has pushed to […]
The United States and Britain warned their citizens on Monday to avoid hotels in Afghanistan, days after dozens were killed at a mosque in an attack claimed by the Islamic State group. The Taliban, which seized power in August and declared an Islamic emirate, are seeking international recognition and assistance to avoid a humanitarian disaster and ease […]
Senior Taliban officials and US representatives are to hold talks Saturday and Sunday about containing extremist groups in Afghanistan and easing the evacuation of foreign citizens and Afghans from the country, officials from both sides said. It’s the first such meeting since US forces withdrew from Afghanistan in late August, ending a 20-year military presence […]
A suicide bomb attack on worshippers at a Shia mosque in the Afghan city of Kunduz killed at least 55 people on Friday, in the bloodiest assault since US forces left the country. Scores more victims from the minority community were wounded in the blast, which has not been claimed but appears designed to further […]