Afghanistan

Russia says it's establishing 'full-fledged partnership' with Afghan Taliban

Russia sees a need to work with Kabul as it faces a major security threat from Islamist militant groups based in a string of countries from Afghanistan to the Middle East.

Taliban security personnel climb barefoot up a steep and sandy mountainside on a weekend at the Sayad area of Reg-e-Rawan in Kapisa province on April 24, 2026.
A member of Iranian militia forces (Basij) gestures during an anti-Israeli march in Tehran, Iran, January 10, 2025; illustrative.

Iranian regime relying on foreign militias to bolster security efforts, suppress protests - report

Residents gather as heavy machinery clears the rubble of a damaged police post after a car bombing in Bannu, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Pakistan May 10, 2026. Picture taken with a mobile phone.

Fourteen Pakistani police officers killed in car bombing, ambush in Bannu

Muhammad Saad bin Riaz

Arrest of Pakistani journalist spurs dispute over Al-Qaida allegations


UK couple freed by Taliban after Qatari mediation, official says

Barbie and Peter Reynolds, whose family had voiced serious concerns over their health and their ability to survive Taliban custody, were detained by the group's interior ministry on February 1.

 Taliban soldiers celebrate on the second anniversary of the fall of Kabul on a street near the US embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan, August 15, 2023.

Taliban chief orders internet blackouts, calling the web the ‘root of all evil’

The emerging policy threatens to disrupt government services that had moved online in recent years and to stall humanitarian operations in Afghanistan.

 Taliban soldiers celebrate on the second anniversary of the fall of Kabul on a street near the US embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan, August 15, 2023.

US and Afghanistan agree to hostages-for-prisoners exchange

Taliban representatives met with US Officials to discuss normalization efforts, diplomatic relations, and freeing detained US citizens.

Taliban's Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi holds a meeting with Adam Boehler, U.S. President Donald Trump's Special Envoy for Hostage Affairs, in Kabul, Afghanistan, September 13, 2025

Twenty four years after 9/11, al-Qaeda resurgence poses ‘daily threat’ to US

“After Afghanistan fell in 2021, al-Qaeda quietly began rebuilding its networks while working closely with the Taliban," said Azim Shinwari, a former Afghan senior counterterrorism expert.

 Taliban soldiers celebrate on the second anniversary of the fall of Kabul on a street near the US embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan, August 15, 2023.

WHO asks Taliban to lift female aid worker restrictions following earthquakes

WHO urged the Taliban to lift restrictions on Afghan women aid workers after a deadly quake, warning the shortage of female staff is leaving women without vital medical and mental health care.

Rescue workers clear debris of a damaged house after a deadly magnitude-6 earthquake that struck Afghanistan, in Mazar Dara, Kunar province, Afghanistan, September 2, 2025.

Trump signs executive order paving way for states to be designated sponsors of wrongful detention

Trump's new order order is intended to deter offending nations from engaging in ‘hostage diplomacy'.

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks with the media in the Oval Office, at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., September 5, 2025.

Two powerful aftershocks hit Afghanistan after earthquakes killed 2,200

Two powerful aftershocks struck eastern Afghanistan within 12 hours, as fears of more devastation grow following a series of deadly earthquakes that have killed over 2,200 people.

A boy stands in front of houses damaged by a deadly earthquake that struck Afghanistan's Kunar and Nangarhar provinces, at Masud village in Nurgal district, Kunar province, Afghanistan, September 4, 2025.

Afghanistan earthquake death toll tops 2,200, survivors face aid crunch

The tremor, at a depth of 10 km (six miles), followed the earlier quakes that flattened villages in Kunar and Nangarhar provinces, left tens of thousands homeless, and injured more than 3,600 people.

Rescue workers clear debris of a damaged house after a deadly magnitude-6 earthquake that struck Afghanistan, in Mazar Dara, Kunar province, Afghanistan, September 2, 2025.

Bomb blast kills 11 at rally in southwestern Pakistan, officials say

The Islamic State terrorist group claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement released on Wednesday.

Men mourn the death of a relative, who was killed in a bomb blast at a public rally in Quetta, at hospital premises in Quetta, Pakistan September 2, 2025.

Afghanistan airdrops commandos to rescue quake survivors, UN warns food may run out

Afghanistan quakes kill 1,400 as rescuers race to save survivors, and the UN warns food aid could run out in weeks.

Rescue workers clear debris of a damaged house after a deadly magnitude-6 earthquake that struck Afghanistan, in Mazar Dara, Kunar province, Afghanistan, September 2, 2025.