The post Beijing will miss the New Delhi summit on Kabul after Islamabad; Iran and Russia will join appeared first on The Edge Media.
]]>
While Russia, Iran, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan have chosen to stay away, the other key countries in the region — Russia, Iran, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan — are expected to attend the meeting, which will be chaired by National Security Advisor Ajit Doval. China has stated that it is open to continuing contact and discussions through bilateral diplomatic channels, despite its refusal to attend.
The post Beijing will miss the New Delhi summit on Kabul after Islamabad; Iran and Russia will join appeared first on The Edge Media.
]]>The post No recognition for the terrible Taliban administration in Kabul 50 days after the occupation appeared first on The Edge Media.
]]>The US special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad, now Taliban deputy prime minister Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, Qatari national security advisor Mohammed bin Ahmed Al Mesned, UK chief of defense staff Nick Carter, and Pakistani army chief Qamar Jawed Bajwa were involved in the so-called Doha Peace Process. No other country has been given access to the details of the Doha process. Behind the scenes, the Taliban’s seizure of Kabul was supported by Russian presidential envoy to Afghanistan Zamir Kabulov and Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi.
The post No recognition for the terrible Taliban administration in Kabul 50 days after the occupation appeared first on The Edge Media.
]]>The post For the second day in a row, an explosion in Jalalabad targets Taliban, implying infighting appeared first on The Edge Media.
]]>Witnesses told the Associated Press that the blast on Sunday targeted a vehicle belonging to the border police, which is currently controlled by the Taliban. According to the initial reports, five individuals were killed, including two civilians, one of which was a toddler. The Taliban did not respond to requests for comment about suspected casualties within their ranks, according to the article.
The post For the second day in a row, an explosion in Jalalabad targets Taliban, implying infighting appeared first on The Edge Media.
]]>The post Two hundred Americans and other foreigners set to depart from Kabul appeared first on The Edge Media.
]]>The departures will be among the first international flights to take off from Kabul airport since the Taliban seized the capital in mid-August, triggering the chaotic U.S.-led evacuation of 124,000 foreigners and at-risk Afghans.
The move comes two days after the Taliban announced an interim government made up mainly of ethnic Pashtun men including wanted terror suspects and Islamist hardliners, dashing international hopes for a more moderate administration.
The Taliban were pressed to allow the departures by U.S. Special Representative Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. official said, speaking to Reuters on condition of anonymity.
The official could not say whether the American civilians and other foreign nationals were among people stranded for days in the northern Afghan city of Mazar-i-Sharif because their private charters had not been allowed to depart.
The Taliban’s announcement of a new government on Tuesday was widely seen as a signal they were not looking to broaden their base and present a more tolerant face to the world, as they had suggested they would do before their military takeover.
Foreign countries greeted the interim government with caution and dismay on Wednesday. In Kabul, dozens of women took to the streets in protest.
Many critics called on the leadership to respect basic human rights and revive the economy, which faces collapse amid steep inflation, food shortages and the prospect of foreign aid being slashed as countries seek to isolate the Taliban.
The post Two hundred Americans and other foreigners set to depart from Kabul appeared first on The Edge Media.
]]>The post Taliban fired shots into air to disperse crowds at the protest appeared first on The Edge Media.
]]>The Taliban fired shots into the air to disperse crowds at the protest, news agency AFP reported.
Pakistan’s spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), which is notorious for supporting terror groups against India, is believed to be working with the Taliban and laying the groundwork for a new government in the country where a US-led alliance fought a war against terror for 20 years.
“ISI stay away,” read a placard held up by a woman at the protest outside the Pakistani embassy in the Afghan capital.
“The Islamic government is shooting at our poor people,” one panic-stricken woman on the street says over sounds of gunfire in a video clip posted on Twitter by Asvaka news agency. “These people (Taliban) are very unjust, and they are not human at all.”
The post Taliban fired shots into air to disperse crowds at the protest appeared first on The Edge Media.
]]>The post At least 17 people were killed in celebratory gunfire in Kabul : Reports appeared first on The Edge Media.
]]>Leaders of opposition to the Taliban have denied that the province has fallen.
The Shamshad news agency said “aerial shooting” in Kabul on Friday killed 17 people and wounded 41. Tolo news agency gave a similar death count.
At least 14 people were injured in celebratory firing in Nangarhar province east of the capital, said Gulzada Sangar, spokesman for an area hospital in the provincial capital of Jalalabad.
The gunfire drew a rebuke from the main Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid.
“Avoid shooting in the air and thank God instead,” Mujahid said in a message on Twitter. “Bullets can harm civilians, so don’t shoot unnecessarily.”
The post At least 17 people were killed in celebratory gunfire in Kabul : Reports appeared first on The Edge Media.
]]>The post Taliban co-founder Mullah Baradar to lead new Afghan government : Sources appeared first on The Edge Media.
]]>Baradar, who heads the Taliban’s political office, will be joined by Mullah Mohammad Yaqoob, the son of late Taliban founder Mullah Omar, and Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanekzai, in senior positions in the government, three sources said.
“All the top leaders have arrived in Kabul, where preparations are in final stages to announce the new government,” one Taliban official told Reuters, on condition of anonymity.
The Taliban, which seized Kabul on Aug. 15 after sweeping across most of the country, have faced resistance in the Panjshir Valley, north of the capital, with reports of heavy fighting and casualties.
The Taliban, which seized Kabul on Aug. 15 after sweeping across most of the country, have faced resistance in the Panjshir Valley, north of the capital, with reports of heavy fighting and casualties.
Several thousand fighters of regional militias and remnants of the government’s armed forces have massed in the rugged valley under the leadership of Ahmad Massoud, the son of former Mujahideen commander Ahmad Shah Massoud.
The post Taliban co-founder Mullah Baradar to lead new Afghan government : Sources appeared first on The Edge Media.
]]>The post Anti-Taliban Forces Continue to Fight in Panjshir, Afghanistan appeared first on The Edge Media.
]]>As the Islamist group sends militants to encircle the enclave, the National Resistance Front, which includes anti-Taliban militia fighters and former Afghan security officers, has vowed to protect it.
The post Anti-Taliban Forces Continue to Fight in Panjshir, Afghanistan appeared first on The Edge Media.
]]>The post Joe Biden Encouraged Ashraf Ghani to “Alter Perception” Before Afghanistan’s Fall During a Phone Chat Just Before the Country’s Collapse appeared first on The Edge Media.
]]>On July 23, the two men spoke for almost 14 minutes. Ghani departed the presidential residence on August 15, and the Taliban stormed Kabul. Thousands of Afghans have left since then, and 13 US servicemen and hundreds of Afghan civilians were killed in a suicide attack at Kabul airport during the hasty US military departure.
The post Joe Biden Encouraged Ashraf Ghani to “Alter Perception” Before Afghanistan’s Fall During a Phone Chat Just Before the Country’s Collapse appeared first on The Edge Media.
]]>The post Music is not banned in Kabul wedding halls appeared first on The Edge Media.
]]>According to reception hall’s manager, Shadab Azimi, 26, at least seven wedding parties have been held since the Taliban takeover of Kabul two weeks earlier, with festivities moved to daylight hours because of security concerns.
The Taliban, who during their previous rule between 1996-2001 had banned most music, except for devotional Islamic songs, did not announce a ban of live music, Azimi said. However, wedding singers canceled on their own, for fear of running afoul of possible new Taliban restrictions.
He said in recent celebrations, couples played taped music. Azimi said business was down by 80% over the past two weeks, presumably because of a sense of uncertainty.
The manager said Taliban patrols check in a couple of times a day, asking if he needs help with security, but have not seemed threatening. And unlike the security forces under the deposed government, the Taliban have not demanded bribes, he said.
“Former officials, including police officers, were asking us for money and we were forced to host their friends for lunches and dinners,” he said.
Even before the Taliban takeover, wedding parties were traditionally been segregated, with men and women celebrating in different spaces.
The post Music is not banned in Kabul wedding halls appeared first on The Edge Media.
]]>