ISLAMABAD: Afghanistan’s deputy prime minister for economic affairs asked traders to ditch Pakistan as a transit route for imports and exports within three months, signaling a deepening rift between the neighbours amid escalating security tensions.
International
Security forces kill all five attackers in cadet school siege, avert potential massacre
ISLAMABAD: Security forces have killed all five militants who had stormed a cadet college in the restive northwest, officials said on Wednesday, in an operation that evacuated hundreds of students unharmed and drew praise from government leaders as a major success amid escalating tensions with neighbouring Afghanistan.
Defence minister Asif says Pakistan could hit Afghan militant sanctuaries after deadly attacks
ISLAMABAD: Defence minister warned on Tuesday that Pakistan could launch attacks on terrorist sanctuaries inside Afghanistan in response to a wave of deadly assaults that killed at least 12 people and wounded dozens more, escalating tensions along the volatile border and raising the specter of broader regional conflict.
Afghan militants confined, cadets rescued in South Waziristan school siege
ISLAMABAD: Security forces rescued all 550 students and nearly 40 teachers from a military-run cadet college in the northwestern tribal region of South Waziristan on Tuesday, where three Afghan militants remained holed up in an administrative building after a brazen suicide attack on the facility the previous day, officials said.
Suicide attack outside Islamabad courthouse kills at least 12, wounds 27
ISLAMABAD: A suicide bomber struck outside a courthouse in the Pakistani capital on Tuesday, killing at least 12 people and wounding 27 others in an attack that heightened tensions in a region already strained by cross-border terrorism and failed peace talks.
Pakistan warns UN of threat from abandoned weapons in Afghanistan falling into terrorists’ hands
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan warned the United Nations Security Council on Monday that terrorist groups in Afghanistan were acquiring sophisticated weapons abandoned during the American withdrawal, posing a grave threat to peace and security not only in Pakistan but across the region.
Two militants killed in failed assault on Cadet College Wana, army says
ISLAMABAD: Security forces killed at least two militants on Monday after repelling an attack on a military-run school in the restive northwest, the army said, in the latest clash amid a surge in violence that has claimed dozens of insurgents in recent days.
Pakistan says Afghan Taliban used Istanbul talks to prolong fragile border truce
ISLAMABAD The Foreign Office on Sunday said the Afghan Taliban had used recent negotiations only to extend a fragile border truce without taking verifiable steps against terrorist groups operating from Afghan soil, days after Turkey- and Qatar-mediated talks collapsed without resolution.
Nine killed in shootings, tribal clash across Balochistan
QUETTA: Nine people were killed in a series of shootings and one tribal clash across Balochistan Province on Saturday, and two others were abducted, as a surge in violence underscored the region’s persistent security challenges, officials said.
Pakistan reaffirms 1998 nuclear test moratorium, rebukes India
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan on Friday forcefully denied conducting any nuclear tests since May 1998, dismissing Indian allegations of clandestine nuclear activities as “baseless and malicious” and accusing New Delhi of distorting facts to divert attention from its own lapses in nuclear security.