All articles tagged with #afghanistan
Pakistan says its air defenses intercepted four rudimentary drones fired from Afghanistan, while Afghan Taliban officials claim to have conducted air strikes in Pakistan’s Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, signaling a renewed cross-border confrontation amid longstanding tensions.
Afghan officials say Pakistani airstrikes killed 36 civilians as cross-border clashes between Pakistan and Afghanistan intensify; Pakistan summoned Kabul’s ambassador to protest Afghan involvement in attacks and said the strikes targeted militants, vowing to press the campaign. The escalation follows a Karachi assault claimed by Jamaat-ul-Ahrar and a broader cycle of strikes and counterstrikes that have hindered peace talks.
Pakistan says it struck Jamaat-ul-Ahrar hideouts in Afghan provinces after a Karachi attack and has pressed Kabul with demarches, but analysts say the cycle of air strikes, deportations and diplomacy is reactive and failing to curb violence, while civilian casualties fuel a shifting narrative and a more coherent strategy is needed beyond military force.
Pakistan says its security forces killed 29 militants along the Pakistan–Afghanistan border in ground operations and air strikes targeting Pakistan Taliban hideouts, in response to recent attacks including an assault in Karachi. Afghanistan had not commented on the strikes. The clash underscores escalating cross-border hostilities and follows a pattern of retaliatory actions by both sides despite international mediation.
Pakistan says it carried out a ground operation and border strikes along its frontier with Afghanistan, resulting in 29 militants killed.
Rolling Stone reports that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ousted Gen. Chris Donahue, the four-star commander of U.S. Army Europe, in what critics call a purge of combat-tested leadership. The piece argues the firing stems from Donahue’s role directing the Kabul evacuation in 2021–22, including tense negotiations with the Taliban and coordinating refugee flights and aid—stories interwoven with Fazel Roufi’s family’s escape and Donahue’s last-flight departure. The article also notes ongoing investigations into the Afghanistan withdrawal and frames Donahue’s actions as a brave, duty-driven effort amid a controversial mission.
Gen. Christopher Donahue, who has led U.S. Army Europe and Africa since December 2024 and was famed as the last soldier out of Afghanistan in 2021, is stepping down amid a broader wave of senior military departures under Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, with the change expected to be announced soon.
Afghanistan’s defence ministry says its air force struck sites inside Pakistan tied to ISIS-Khorasan and hostile intelligence circles, including locations in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, in what Kabul described as hits on bases used to plan attacks. Pakistan rejected Kabul’s claims, and the episode underscores a fragile ceasefire managed by mediators led by China, with repeated cross-border clashes and mutual accusations threatening stability.
President Donald J. Trump will award the Medal of Honor to three veterans—Major James Capers Jr. (USMC, ret.), Colonel John Ripley (USMC, posthumous), and Major Nicholas Dockery (US Army, ret.)—for acts of gallantry in Vietnam and Afghanistan. Capers earned it for leading a four-day reconnaissance mission in 1967 despite heavy wounds; Ripley for single-handedly destroying a bridge during a 1972 assault; Dockery for four hours of defending his platoon under heavy enemy fire in Kapisa Province, Afghanistan, in 2012, including evacuating wounded and coordinating aircraft. The release also provides the official Medal of Honor criteria.
The United Nations says at least one person was killed in a crackdown on protests in Herat over the arrests of women, while urging Afghan authorities to uphold rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and security. Afghan officials denied widespread arrests and defended hijab enforcement, but UN officials stressed the detention of women carries stigma and violat es international human rights obligations.
Pakistan says its calibrated air strikes on Afghan border targets killed 26 militants, while Afghanistan’s Taliban government reports 13 dead, including 11 children. The escalation is the first major flare-up since February after a border ceasefire last October, with both sides accusing the other of harboring militants and promising to protect citizens by targeting hideouts, training sites and ammunition caches along the border.
Pakistan conducted airstrikes inside Afghanistan, killing at least 13 people, as Islamabad accuses Afghan militants of attacks on Pakistani soil. The episode underscores escalating cross-border tensions with groups like the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan. The report notes Beijing’s earlier mediation talks between the two countries to curb escalation, with China saying both sides agreed to pursue a peaceful solution.
Taliban security forces opened fire on a rare Herat protest over dress-code arrests, with reports of a killed woman and child and several injuries, as the UN and rights groups urge restraint and accountability.
Taliban security forces opened fire on protesters in Afghanistan who were demonstrating against arrests of women for dress-code violations, highlighting ongoing restrictions on women’s rights under the regime and drawing international attention.
In Herat, Afghanistan, a rare women’s protest against the Taliban’s hijab rules turned deadly as security forces dispersed the crowd, with medics reporting two deaths and several injuries; police deny fatalities and say they acted to maintain public order, while witnesses describe gunfire and beatings. The incident underscores ongoing restrictions on women’s rights under the Taliban since 2021.