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British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has signalled that US President Donald Trump should apologise for his false assertion that troops from non-US NATO countries avoided the front line during the Afghanistan war, describing Trump's remarks as "insulting" and "appalling." Trump said that he wasn't sure NATO would be there to support the United States if and when requested, provoking outrage and distress across the United Kingdom on Friday, regardless of individuals' political persuasion. "We've never needed them, we have never really asked anything of them," Trump said of non-US troops in an interview with Fox News in Davos, Switzerland, on Thursday. "You know, they'll say they sent some troops to Afghanistan, or this or that, and they did, they stayed a little back, a little off the front lines." In October 2001, nearly a month after the September 11 attacks, the US led an international coalition in Afghanistan to destroy al-Qaida, which had used the country as its base, and the ...
Prince Harry, who served in Afghanistan, said the "sacrifices" of British soldiers during the war "deserve to be spoken about truthfully and with respect" as he weighed into the furor surrounding remarks that US President Donald Trump made about non-US NATO troops. Trump suggested in comments Thursday that troops from non-US NATO countries avoided the front line during the Afghanistan war, drawing pushback in Britain including from Prime Minister Keir Starmer. Prince Harry, who had two tours to Afghanistan in the British Army, said the US's allies "answered" the call to stand with the country after the September 11, 2001 attacks. "I served there. I made lifelong friends there. And I lost friends there. The United Kingdom alone had 457 service personnel killed," he said. "Those sacrifices deserve to be spoken about truthfully and with respect, as we all remain united and loyal to the defence of diplomacy and peace.
The Islamic State group claimed responsibility overnight for a deadly attack at a restaurant in Afghanistan's capital that killed at least seven people Monday, including a Chinese national, as authorities in Kabul said they were still investigating. The militant group said in a statement posted on its Aamaq news agency late Monday that a suicide bomber entered a restaurant frequented by Chinese nationals in the city and detonated an explosive vest during a gathering. It claimed 25 people were killed or wounded in the attack, including Taliban guards. The claim could not be independently verified. Afghan authorities have not officially confirmed the cause of the Monday blast and Interior Ministry spokesperson Mufti Abdul Mateen Qani said Tuesday they are still investigating the explosion. The IS claim corresponded in style to previous ones issued by the group, and supporters of the militants widely shared it early Tuesday. The claim included a further threat against Chinese nationals
An explosion at a restaurant in downtown Kabul on Monday killed at least seven people and wounded about a dozen more, according to police and an Italian charity running a surgical unit in the city. The cause of the blast was not immediately clear. The explosion occurred in a Chinese restaurant in the Shahr-e-Naw district of the Afghan capital, according to Kabul police command spokesman Khalid Zadran. He said the restaurant was jointly owned by an Afghan man, a Chinese national and his wife. The restaurant was popular with Chinese Muslims, Zadran said, adding that one Chinese national and six Afghans were killed and several others were wounded. The blast occurred near the restaurant's kitchen, the police spokesman said, and the cause was under investigation. The Italian charity EMERGENCY said its surgical centre in Kabul, which is located near the site of the explosion, had received 20 people from the blast, including seven who were already dead. It noted the number of casualties
The government on Tuesday dismissed claims by some Pakistani social media accounts that India has suspended trade operations with Afghanistan due to unrest in Iran, saying the reports were completely false. It said that a fabricated letter is being circulated by Pakistani propaganda accounts on the matter. Iran is witnessing widespread nationwide protests. "A fabricated letter is being circulated by #Pakistani propaganda accounts, falsely claiming that India has temporarily suspended trade operations with #Afghanistan due to escalating unrest in #Iran," PIB Fact Check said in a social media post. In 2024-25, India's exports to Afghanistan stood at USD 318.91 million, while imports were aggregated at USD 689.81 million.
Pakistan and Afghanistan on Monday agreed to establish a 13-member joint committee of business leaders to hold formal negotiations for the opening of the border for trade. The border has been shut since October last year after the two sides clashed over the issue of militancy emanating from Afghanistan. The Express Tribune newspaper reported that the joint committee comprises six members from Pakistan and seven from Afghanistan. The Pakistani delegation will be led by Syed Jawad Hussain Kazmi, Adviser to the President of the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI), while the Afghan side will be headed by Mohammad Wali Amini. Speaking to the media, Kazmi said the primary objective of the talks is the immediate reopening of Pak-Afghan trade routes, the removal of obstacles in border management, and ensuring the continuity of bilateral trade. He added that a comprehensive and practical roadmap would be formulated to provide a lasting solution to the issues fa
Since closing down its border with Afghanistan, Pakistan has recorded a significant drop in cross-border terrorist attacks and deaths related to violence. Pakistan shut its border on October 11 last year after clashes with Afghanistan, which were prompted by the allegations that Kabul was not doing enough to stop the use of its soil by terrorists. Dawn reported from the data collected by the Centre for Research and Security Studies (CRSS), a local think-tank, that terrorist attacks went down by almost 17 per cent in December, preceded by 9 per cent decline in November, while terrorism-linked fatalities among civilians and security officials also fell in the last quarter of 2025, by nearly 4 per cent and 19 per cent each in November and December. However, the data of CRSS showed that with an almost 34 per cent surge in overall violence, the year 2025 went by as the most violent year for Pakistan in a decade. The comparative data for 2024 and 2025 reveals a sharp escalation in terror
More than two million Afghan refugees are still living in Pakistan despite over a million returning to their country in 2025. In November alone, 171,055 Afghans returned to Afghanistan, with 37,899 deported through the Chaman, Torkham and Barabcha borders, Dawn reported from the statistics of a UN refugee agency. Also in November, over 31,500 Afghan Proof of Registration Cards (PoRs) card holders were sent to Afghanistan through UNHCR's repatriation centres. Heightened Pakistan-Afghanistan border tensions in November disrupted humanitarian operations, restricted cross-border movements, and prompted temporary relocation of UN agencies from the Chaman border area. Despite intensified implementation of the third phase of the Illegal Foreigners' Repatriation Plan (IFRP) in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), the UNHCR and partners ensured that essential and life-saving services were provided, including resumption of women and girls safe spaces and child friendly spaces, continued legal and mental
On a recent afternoon, Giselle Garcia, a volunteer who has been helping an Afghan family resettle, drove the father to a check-in with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement. She warned him and his family to prepare for the worst. The moment the father stepped into the ICE office in California's capital city, he was arrested. Coming just days after the shooting of two National Guard troops by an Afghan national suspect, federal authorities have carried out increased arrests of Afghans in the US, immigration lawyers say as Afghans both in and outside the country have come under intense scrutiny by immigration officials. Garcia said the family she helped had reported to all their appointments and were following all legal requirements. He was trying to be strong for his wife and kids in the car, but the anxiety and fear were palpable, she said. His wife was trying to hold back tears, but I could see her in the rearview mirror silently crying. They had fled Afghanistan under threat by
A heavy exchange of fire between Pakistani and Afghan forces was reported from the key Chaman border, according to a media report on Saturday. Injuries were reported from the district hospital, but no fatalities occurred, the Dawn newspaper reported. Officials from both sides accused each other of instigating the flare-up late on Friday night across the border in the Balochistan province. While Pakistani officials said that Afghan forces had fired mortar shells on the Badani area, Afghan Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid claimed it was Pakistan that launched an attack on Spin Boldak, alleging that their forces were responding. Pakistan's official sources told Dawn that Pakistani forces retaliated against the Afghan aggression and returned fire. There were also reports of fighting on the Chaman-Kandahar highway, but these could not be immediately verified. A senior official in Quetta confirmed on condition of anonymity that the exchange of fire started around 10 pm and conti
An Afghan national who worked with the CIA in his native country and immigrated to the US in 2021 drove from Washington state to shoot two West Virginia National Guard members deployed in Washington, DC, just blocks from the White House, US officials said Thursday. The suspect had worked in a special CIA-backed Afghan Army unit before emigrating from Afghanistan, according to a cousin who spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals. Jeanine Pirro, the US attorney for the District of Columbia, declined to provide a motive for Wednesday afternoon's brazen act of violence, which comes as the presence of troops in the nation's capital and other cities around the country has become a political flashpoint. Pirro identified the guard members at a news conference as Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, 20, and Staff Sgt Andrew Wolfe, 24. Both remained hospitalised in critical condition. Pirro said that the suspect, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, launched an ambush-style att