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Afghanistan
Widespread flooding, landslides and lightning strikes triggered by heavy rain and storms across Afghanistan have left 77 people dead and 137 injured over the past 10 days, the country's Disaster Management Authority said Saturday. More rain has been forecast for the coming days throughout Afghanistan, and the authority warned the public to stay away from river banks and areas prone to flooding. So far this year, dozens of people have died due to extreme weather in Afghanistan, an impoverished country that is highly vulnerable to extreme weather events. Earlier this year, heavy snowfall and flash floods left dozens of people dead across the country. The recent toll includes 26 people killed over the past 48 hours, the disaster authority said. Overall, 793 homes have been completely destroyed and a further 2,673 have been damaged, while floods and landslides have destroyed 337 kilometres (about 210 miles) of roads, it said. Businesses, agricultural land, water wells and irrigation ..
An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 5.8 rattled parts of northern and eastern Afghanistan and western Pakistan late Friday, killing at least eight people in Afghanistan, authorities said. The region is highly seismically active, and quakes have caused thousands of deaths in recent years. Friday's earthquake had an epicentre in the Hindu Kush mountain range, about 150 kilometres (90 miles) east of the Afghan city of Kunduz, according to the Euro-Mediterranean Seismological Center and the US Geological Survey. Hafizullah Basharat, a spokesman for the Kabul governor, said eight people were killed and a child was injured when a house collapsed on the outskirts of the capital. He said all were members of the same family. Kabul is roughly 290 kilometres (180 miles) southwest of the epicentre. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries from areas closer to the epicentre. The area is remote, and it can often take several hours before local authorities can relay ...
Pakistan and Afghanistan's Taliban governments have resumed talks in China, which is mediating between the two sides to broker a durable ceasefire after more than a month of fighting, two Pakistani officials said Wednesday. A third person who is in a position to know about China's mediation efforts said the talks were aimed at ending the current fighting. Representatives from both countries are meeting in Urumqi, in northern China, the officials told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to brief the media. China has not commented. Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs neither confirmed nor denied the latest development.
Afghanistan's government accused Pakistan's military of shelling the outskirts of an eastern Afghan city on Sunday, killing one person and wounding more than a dozen in the latest episode of renewed fighting between the two neighboring countries. The fighting, which erupted in late February, has been the most severe between Afghanistan and Pakistan in decades. Pakistan accuses Afghanistan of providing a safe haven for militants who carry out attacks inside Pakistan, especially for the Pakistani Taliban. The group is separate but closely allied with the Afghan Taliban, which seized power in Afghanistan in 2021 during the chaotic withdrawal of U.S.-led troops. Kabul denies the allegation. Afghan deputy government spokesman Hamdullah Fitrat said that "mortars and other heavy weaponry" were used Sunday afternoon to strike rural areas and civilian homes on the outskirts of the city of Asadabad in Kunar Province. In a post on X accompanied by photos of wounded children, Fitrat said that
Renewed fighting erupted along the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan on Wednesday after a temporary ceasefire expired, killing at least two civilians and wounding others in eastern Afghanistan, Afghan Taliban officials said. The brief truce had been announced by the two sides ahead of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr. Ziaur Rahman Speenghar, a director at the information and culture department in Afghanistan's Kunar province, said Pakistani forces fired dozens of artillery shells into the Narai and Sarkano districts, killing two civilians and wounding eight others after the ceasefire expired. Afghan border forces returned fire, he said, claiming they destroyed three Pakistani military posts and killed one person. His claims could not be independently verified. There was no immediate comment from Pakistan's military. However, a local Pakistani official in the northwest accused Afghan forces of initiating the exchange of fire in multiple areas. The latest violence comes about a
Pakistan's Chief of Army Staff and Chief of Defence Forces Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir on Thursday said the country "would not tolerate the use of Afghan soil for conduct of terrorism against our people". Munir made the comment during an interaction with Ulema of Ahl-e-Tasheeh (Shiite) community at Rawalpindi, the army said in a statement. Referring to Operation Ghazab lil Haq (Righteous Fury), he emphasised that "Pakistan will not tolerate use of Afghan soil for conduct of terrorism against our people, and reiterated the resolve to eliminate terrorists and their infrastructure operating against Pakistan." Pakistan launched the operation on February 26 in response to alleged attacks by the Afghan Taliban forces along the 2,600-km-long border. Munir further said that Afghan Taliban must prevent the use of Afghan soil for terrorism against Pakistan. He also highlighted Pakistan's efforts and "pro-active diplomacy in seeking regional de-escalation". He emphasised the critical role
Pakistan on Wednesday announced a "temporary pause" in the ongoing operation against the Afghan Taliban in view of Eid and at the request of several countries, a day after the Afghan government accused Islamabad of killing 400 people in an attack on a rehabilitation hospital in Kabul. Information Minister Ataullah Tarar made the announcement in a post on X, hours after Pakistan carried out fresh attacks on alleged Taliban positions in the border region. "In view of the upcoming Islamic festival of Eid-ul-Fitr, upon its own initiative as well as on the request from the brotherly Islamic countries" of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkiye, Pakistan has decided to announce a temporary pause amidst ongoing Operation Ghazab-lil-Haq, he said. Tarar said the pause would be applicable from "midnight March 18/19 to midnight March 23/24". He, however, added that in case of any cross-border attack, drone attack or any terrorist incident inside Pakistan, the operation will immediately resume. Pakist
Afghanistan's deputy government spokesman said early Tuesday the death toll from an airstrike by Pakistan that hit a hospital treating drug users in the Afghan capital Kabul has increased to 400. In a post on X, Hamdullah Fitrat said the strike on Monday night had destroyed large sections of the hospital. He said the death toll so far stood at 400, while a further 250 people had been reported injured. Fitrat said rescue teams were trying to control the fire at the building and recover the bodies of the victims. Pakistan had earlier denied that it had hit a hospital, saying its strike in Kabul and other strikes in eastern Afghanistan Monday had not hit any civilian sites. Afghanistan on Monday accused Pakistan's military of targeting a Kabul hospital that treats drug users in airstrikes, with the country's Health Ministry spokesman saying more than 200 people had been killed. Pakistan dismissed the accusation, saying the strikes - which were also conducted in eastern Afghanistan - di
India on Saturday condemned Pakistan's air strikes inside Afghan territory, asserting that Afghanistan's sovereignty and territorial integrity should be fully respected. "India condemns the air strikes by Pakistan in Afghanistan's territory, leading to the death of several civilians and destruction of civilian infrastructure," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said. "This is yet another act of aggression by a Pakistani establishment that remains hostile to the idea of a sovereign Afghanistan," he said. Jaiswal was responding to a media query on the Pakistani aerial raid on Afghanistan. "India reiterates that Afghanistan's sovereignty and territorial integrity should be fully respected," he said. The Pakistani military carried out air strikes inside Afghanistan in the last few weeks amid an escalating conflict between the two sides.
A Pakistan minister on Sunday announced that the operation against Afghan Taliban was continuing, refuting social media reports about the conclusion of the blitz. Pakistan launched its operation on Thursday night in response to the Taliban operatives attacking 53 locations along the more than 2,600km long border, targeting military installations deep in the country through air strikes. Federal Minister of Parliamentary Affairs Dr Tariq Fazal Chaudhry refuted reports that Pakistan halted its operations, saying that "false and fabricated news is being spread on social media that Pakistan has stopped its operations against Afghanistan". "The reality is the opposite. In view of the current regional situation, the sharing of PAF and drone footage with the media has been temporarily suspended. The purpose of this decision is to safeguard national security and operational strategy, not to prevent operations," he wrote on X. He further said: "Operations are continuing. The operation agains