NEW DELHI: The Coronavirus pandemic sweeping the globe and U.S. pressure has broken the deadlock in the Afghan peace process. In a first, Taliban and Afghan government teams have met– even if only online– to discuss a prisoner swap that has been stalled by hardened negotiating stances on both sides. U.S. Special Representative Zalmay Khalilzad […]Read More
KABUL: The U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation, Zalmay Khalilzad, on Wednesday said the United States would like to see prisoner releases begin as soon as possible in line with the U.S.-Taliban peace agreement. “No prisoners have been released to date despite the commitment to do so expressed by both sides,” Khalilzad added in a […]Read More
NEW DELHI: India, once again, is the first responder to a potential food crisis post the Chinese virus outbreak in Afghanistan. India’s Ambassador Vinay Kumar met the Afghan Deputy Minister for Economic Cooperation Mirwais Nab and discussed the recent spurt in food prices in Afghanistan. New Delhi is donating 75,000 tonnes of wheat. To facilitate […]Read More
KABUL: The coronavirus greatly complicates efforts to overcome the already significant obstacles to the implementation of the Afghan peace process foreseen in the February 29 U.S.-Taliban agreement. The prevalence of the virus in Afghanistan is unknown, given the weakness of healthcare and lack of testing. On March 10, the Ministry of Public Health said that […]Read More
KABUL: U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad in an interview with Tolo News on Wednesday spoke about a number of significant topics related to the peace agreement between the U.S. and the Taliban, including counterterrorism operations, intra-Afghan talks and the prisoner exchange, and he also spoke about the current political deadlock between Ashraf Ghani […]Read More
NEW DELHI: Almost at the stroke of the midnight hour in Kabul, the Presidential Palace announced Ashraf Ghani had signed a decree for a conditional, phased prisoner swap with the Taliban, as promised during his swearing-in a day earlier. The move reverses a refusal to do so till Intra-Afghan Talks (IAT) begin with the Taliban. […]Read More
NEW DELHI: Forty poor people can sleep on one carpet but two kings cannot fit in one land—That Dari proverb seems apt for the bizarre situation that Afghanistan finds itself in. Both Ashraf Ghani and Dr Abdullah Abdullah have held parallel, simultaneous Presidential swearing-in ceremonies in Kabul. To add to the drama, rockets were fired, […]Read More
KABUL: This year again we, the Ambassadors of the European Union and the Member States based in Kabul and the Ambassador of Norway, seize the opportunity of 8 March, the International Women’s Day, to offer our support to the women and girls of Afghanistan. But this year is different. Just a few days ago, on […]Read More
NEW DELHI: As U.S. troops marched into Kabul alongside the rag-tag militia of the Northern Alliance in 2001 and the Taliban melted away into the countryside, Afghan émigrés from across the world came flooding back into the city. Kabul Inter-Continental hotel was a hive of activity; the well-heeled, foreign-educated Afghan rubbing shoulders with powerful warlords […]Read More
KABUL: Gen. Scott Miller, Commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, in a visit to Afghan forces in Kabul on Tuesday said the U.S.-Taliban agreement is a potentially historic agreement for the Afghan people and that “it is fragile if the Taliban are not going to lower violence” and “that causes a risk to […]Read More
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