Page 6 - Afghanistan

New Delhi upgrades status of technical mission in Kabul to embassy

New Delhi and Kabul renew ties after four years, with plans to boost trade, mining investment, and restore the air freight corridor via Chabahar port

Ties, terror & beyond: Inside EAM Jaishankar-Afghan FM Muttaqi talks | India-Afghanistan relations

External Affairs Minister Dr S. Jaishankar emphasised the need for India and Afghanistan to work together in combating terrorism in all its forms and manifestations.

India to reopen embassy in Kabul, deepen engagement with Afghanistan

Jaishankar announces upgrade of India's Kabul mission as Taliban foreign minister visits New Delhi, signalling cautious but deeper diplomatic engagement

Afghan foreign minister Amir Muttaqi lands in Delhi: What's on agenda?

Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi has landed in New Delhi, marking a rare high-level engagement with India since the Taliban assumed power in 2021

Afghan FM arrives in Delhi on first high-level visit since Taliban takeover

Afghan foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi landed in the national capital on Thursday, in the first high-level trip from Kabul after the Taliban seized power following the collapse of the Ashraf Ghani government over four years back. Muttaqi will hold extensive talks with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval during his six-day trip to India, people familiar with the matter said. "Warm welcome to Afghan Foreign Minister, Mawlawi Amir Khan Muttaqi on his arrival in New Delhi," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said on social media. "We look forward to engaging discussions with him on bilateral relations and regional issues," he said. Muttaqi's engagements include a visit to the Darul Uloom Deoband seminary and the Taj Mahal, the people cited above said. The Afghan foreign minister was scheduled to visit New Delhi last month but it was called off in view of a travel ban that he faced under UN Security Council ...

Earthquake of magnitude 4.1 strikes Afghanistan, no causalities reported

Earlier on September 28, another earthquake of magnitude 3.9 struck the region at a shallow depth of 10km, making is susceptible to aftershocks

UN grants travel ban exemption for Afghan FM to visit India from Oct 9-16

Under Security Council resolution 1988 (2011), certain individuals linked to the Taliban are subject to travel bans

Afghan foreign minister Muttaqi to visit India after UN travel ban waiver

Afghan foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi is expected to visit India next week, in the first high-level trip from Kabul after Taliban captured power overthrowing the Ashraf Ghani government around four years ago. The Afghan foreign minister is expected to visit India from October 10, people familiar with the matter said on Thursday. However, there is no official word on the visit yet. Muttaqi was scheduled to visit New Delhi last month but it was called off in view of a travel ban that he faced under United Nations Security Council (UNSC) sanctions. On September 30, a UNSC committee approved a temporary exemption to the travel ban, allowing Muttaqi to visit New Delhi from October 9 to 16, according to a UN statement. Afghan media reported that Muttaqi will travel to Moscow on October 6 to attend the seventh round of Moscow Format talks. The UNSC has slapped sanctions against all leading Taliban leaders and they have to secure a waiver for foreign travels. Muttaqi's visit is expec

UN mission urges Taliban to restore internet access across Afghanistan

The United Nations mission in Afghanistan urged the Taliban on Tuesday to restore internet and telecommunications access across the country, saying the blackout imposed by the government in Kabul has left the nation almost entirely cut off from the outside world. The outage, reported the previous day, was the first nationwide shutdown since the Taliban returned to power in August 2021 and was part of their professed crackdown on immorality. Earlier this month, several provinces lost their fibre-optic connections after Taliban leader Hibatullah Akhundzada issued a decree banning the service to prevent immorality. The disruption threatened economic stability and deepened one of the world's worst humanitarian crises, said the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan. It warned that the blackout is crippling banking and financial systems, isolating women and girls, limiting access to medical care and remittances, and disrupting aviation. The UN said such restrictions further undermine free

Afghanistan faces internet blackout as Taliban enforce morality crackdown

An internet blackout hit Afghanistan on Monday, with local media reporting a potential nationwide cut of fibre-optic services as part of a Taliban crackdown on immorality. It's the first time Afghanistan has experienced a shutdown of this kind since the former insurgents seized power in August 2021. Earlier this month, several provinces lost fibre-optic connections after Taliban leader Hibatullah Akhundzada issued a decree banning the service to prevent immorality. On Monday, internet-access advocacy group Netblocks said that live metrics showed connectivity in Afghanistan had collapsed to 14 per cent of ordinary levels, with a near-total nationwide telecoms disruption in effect. The incident is likely to severely limit the public's ability to contact the outside world, the group added. The Associated Press was unable to contact its Kabul bureau, as well as journalists in the provinces of Nangarhar and Helmand. There was no confirmation of the blackout from the Taliban government,

From Kabul to Delhi, Afghan teen survives deadly ride in plane's wheel well

The boy, a resident of Kunduz, Afghanistan, reportedly sneaked into Kabul airport on Sunday morning and managed to hide inside the rear wheel well of a KAM Air (RQ-4401) flight bound for New Delhi

Watch: India urges global community to block LeT, JeM operations from Afghanistan

India has called on the international community to ensure UN-designated terror entities, including Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Tayyiba.

Why Trump wants Bagram Air Base to be returned to the US by Afghanistan

Donald Trump says the US is 'trying to get back' Bagram Air Base to counter China and terrorism. The Taliban reject the idea as analysts warn of costs, risks and fallout

Taliban rejects Trump's demand to return Bagram air base to US control

Trump has long criticised his predecessor Joe Biden over the tumultuous US withdrawal from Afghanistan

Trump warns of 'bad things' if Afghanistan does not return Bagram air base

Trump said on Thursday that the United States had sought to regain control of the base used by American forces following the attacks of September 11, 2001

Afghanistan should decide on US return to Bagram Air Base, says China

China on Friday said the decision to re-establish US presence at Bagram Air Base should be left to Afghanistan and its people while responding to President Donald Trump's remarks that Washington is trying to get back the strategic facility for its close proximity to China. China respects Afghanistan's territorial integrity and sovereignty, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian told a media briefing here while responding to a question on Trump's comments. The future of Afghanistan should be in the hands of Afghan people, Lin said. Our stress is that hyping up regional tensions does not win support. We hope relevant sides could play a constructive role for regional stability, he said. Trump on Thursday spoke of US plans to acquire the sprawling air base four years after American troops' chaotic withdrawal following the orders from his predecessor, Joe Biden, as Taliban militants took control of Kabul. Trump said he would like to reacquire the strategic air base because it i

Trump suggests possible US return to Afghan base, citing China proximity

President Donald Trump on Thursday suggested that he is working to reestablish a US presence at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan, four years after America's chaotic withdrawal from the country left the base in the Taliban's hands. Trump floated the idea during a press conference with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer as he wrapped up a state visit to the UK and tied it to the need for the US to counter its top rival, China. We're trying to get it back, Trump said of the base in an aside to a question about ending Russia's invasion of Ukraine. While Trump described his call for the US military to reestablish a position in Afghanistan as breaking news, the Republican president has previously raised the idea. The White House did not immediately respond to questions about whether it or the Pentagon has done any planning around returning to the sprawling air base, which was central to America's longest war. During his first presidency, Trump set the terms for the US withdrawal by ...

Taliban internet ban spreads across Afghanistan as more provinces shut down

A Taliban crackdown to prevent immorality is spreading across Afghanistan, with more provinces losing access to fibre-optic internet after the country's leader imposed a complete ban on the technology. It's the first time a ban of this kind has been imposed since the Taliban seized power in August 2021, and leaves government offices, the private sector, public institutions, and homes without Wi-Fi internet. Mobile internet remains functional, however. Officials say alternatives are being found for necessities. The northern Balkh province confirmed a Wi-Fi shutdown on Tuesday, with reports of severe disruption in other parts of the country. On Thursday, officials in the east and north said internet access was cut off in the provinces of Baghlan, Badakhshan, Kunduz, Nangarhar, and Takhar. Siddiqullah Quraishi, from the Nangarhar Culture Directorate, confirmed the shutdown to The Associated Press. The governor's office in Kunduz shared a message in an official WhatsApp group. The ...

India urges global community to block LeT, JeM operations from Afghanistan

India has called on the international community to ensure UN-designated terror entities, including Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Tayyiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed, as well as their facilitators, no longer exploit Afghan territory for terrorist activities. India is closely monitoring the security situation in Afghanistan, India's Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Parvathaneni Harish said on Wednesday. The international community must coordinate efforts towards ensuring that entities and individuals designated by the UN Security Council, ISIL and Al Qaeda and their affiliates, including Lashkar-e-Tayyiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed, along with those who facilitate their operations, no longer exploit the Afghan territory for terrorist activities, he said, in an apparent reference to Pakistan. Harish, delivering a statement at the UN Security Council meeting on Afghanistan, said that India and Afghanistan share a civilisational relationship and Delhi has a paramount interest in ensuring peac

Pak-Afghanistan ties worsen as Sharif warns Kabul over cross-border attacks

Officials in Islamabad have also hinted at the possibility of expanding aerial operations deeper into Afghan territory should militant attacks persist