Afghanistan Archives - Defence Monitor

06 Apr

UN in touch with India for food supplies to Afghanistan: Official

United Nations, April 6 (IANS) UN officials are in touch with India about food supplies to Afghanistan where 30 million people face hunger, according to Ramiz Alakbarov, who coordinates humanitarian relief efforts in the war-torn nation. "We definitely are in touch with the authorities there and we've benefited from donations in 2022 and definitely the people of Afghanistan will continue to benefit from this donation," Alakbarov, who is the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Afghanistan, said on Wednesday in a video conference from Kabul. Last year, India had agreed to send 50,000 tonnes of wheat by road through Pakistan after…

28 Jan

US, India to hold diplomatic consultations: State Dept

New York, Jan 28 (IANS) The US diplomat in charge of political affairs is visiting India for consultations with the External Affairs Ministry in New Delhi, according to the State Department. During her visit, Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland will lead the US delegation to the annual foreign office consultations "which cover the full range of bilateral, regional, and global issues", the Department said on Friday. She is also scheduled to meet young tech leaders, it added. Her visit to India will be a part of a week-long swing through Asia that starts on Saturday and take…

06 Jan

Taliban signs 1st agreement with Chinese firm to drill for oil

Kabul, Jan 6 (IANS) The Taliban-led government in Afghanistan is to sign a contract with a Chinese firm to drill for oil in the war-torn country's north. It would be first major energy extraction agreement with a foreign firm since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan in 2021, the BBC reported. The 25-year deal underscores China's economic involvement in the region. On Thursday, Taliban officials said security forces had targeted Islamic State (IS) terrorists who attacked the Longan Hotel in Kabul used by Chinese businessmen. Eight IS militants were killed and several more arrested, the Taliban said. At least three people…

21 Dec

Militants storm police station in Pak’s South Waziristan

Islamabad, Dec 21 (IANS) Dozens of armed militants stormed a police station in Pakistan's South Waziristan and escaped after looting arms and ammunition, police have confirmed. Militants armed with rocket launchers and heavy weapons forced their way into the police station in Wana, Dawn news quoted Rehman Wazir, an official who was inside at the time of the attack, as saying. He said that around 50 militants entered the station after blowing up the front gate, Dawn reported. Heavily outnumbered in front of militants, around 20 policemen, including the station house officer, resisted for some time but were later taken hostage,…

25 Aug

An engaging saga of the Durrani daughters

Book: The Begums of Peshawar; Author: Najma Yusufi; Publisher: Hachette India; Price: Rs 399; Pages: 306 This book, the debut novel by Najma Yusufi, a filmmaker and lecturer, is her tribute to her ancestors -- the Afghan Durranis settled in Peshawar. A descendant of the Durranis on her mother's side, she tells the story of the last ruling Afghani royal family which separated, scattered and now occupies a small corner of Munda Beri in the Pakistani city. Dispossessed and disheartened, they cling to their former glory. Najma Yusufi, whose father Mehmood Ali Khan Yusufi hails from Uttar Pradesh, has dedicated…

29 May

From Tora Bora to Abbottabad: The strange history of Bin Laden’s ‘Wander Years’

Title: The Exile; Author: Cathy Scott-Clark & Adrian Levy; Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing; Pages: 640; Price: Rs 699 Between fleeing his Tora Bora mountain stronghold in 2001 till the US finally settled scores with him in 2011, Osama Bin Laden's whereabouts were a deep mystery. But in his -- and his top aides -- disappearance, there was far more going on than we know. Remember what else happened in the Indian subcontinent in December 2011 that may have facilitated his escape from Afghanistan? And then it is not only Pakistan's complicity or negligence that is the story, nor the US' short-sighted…