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Daud Khattak is a senior international correspondent covering the Near East in RFE/RL’s Central Newsroom. He was previously the managing editor of RFE/RL's Radio Mashaal.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said US negotiators asked for the first time whether Ukraine would withdraw its remaining forces from Donbas in exchange for NATO membership.
At least 20 Bangladeshi nationals have died fighting for Russian forces. Most were not trained soldiers, and say they were deceived into signing military contracts.
Recent reports that 20 Bangladeshis were killed on the front lines in Russia's war against Ukraine have again raised accusations that Moscow is deceiving recruits and forcing them to fight.
A reported plan to deport dozens of Afghan nationals has been temporarily halted by a New York-based federal judge following a warning from several US lawmakers and rights groups that sending them home or to neighboring Pakistan could put their lives at risk.
Afghanistan has asked the US government to “act responsibly” amid reports that it plans to deport dozens of Afghans via Pakistan, possibly in the coming days.
Evacuation of residents from the Russian-occupied southern Ukrainian city of Oleshky had been completed as Moscow and Kyiv continued to stick to the temporary cease-fire brokered by US first lady Melania Trump.
Officials from the so-called Mecca Defense Alliance have gathered for a snap meeting in Tehran as they look to settle conflicts in the Middle East that have left the region reeling and are impacting global flows of oil and other cargo.
Opium cultivation fell dramatically in Afghanistan, the world’s largest producer, after the Taliban imposed a narcotics ban in 2022. Since then, production has surged in neighboring Pakistan and Iran.
Increasing militant attacks along Iran's border with Pakistan by multiple armed groups have stoked fears of further instability in the two countries, both of which already face multifaceted threats of sectarian violence in addition to the broader repercussions of the conflict in the Middle East.
Russia is deepening diplomatic and military cooperation with Afghanistan's Taliban rulers, driven by security concerns in Central Asia. But worsening Taliban-Pakistan tensions and questions over the scope of Moscow's assistance are complicating the rapprochement.
Saudi Arabia’s allies Pakistan and Turkey are facing a major test just two months after signing a joint defense agreement as the rise of Iran-aligned Houthi rebels in Yemen test the deal that says “any armed attack against any one of the three states shall be regarded as an attack against them all.”
The prolonged closure of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border has brought cross-border trade to a standstill, leaving tens of thousands of people on both sides without work. It has also disrupted commercial activity and strained longstanding family and social ties.
Pakistan carried out a round of air strikes on October 1 on two Afghan provinces near the border based on "credible evidence" of militant activity in the area.
As militancy surges in Pakistan's Balochistan Province, former Afghan security personnel are reportedly being recruited for pro-government armed groups -- allegations that could add a dangerous new dimension to tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Al-Qaeda is back in Afghanistan, but no attacks have been launched from the country so far (except those into Pakistan). Should we feel safe?
A quarter-century ago, the United States drove Al-Qaeda out of Afghanistan and into neighboring Pakistan. Now the group is back in its Afghan safe haven, supporting other militant groups staging cross-border attacks.
Tens of thousands of vulnerable Afghans, including journalists and activists, fled to neighboring Pakistan after the Taliban takeover. But many face deportation to their homeland, where they fear reprisals.
A lack of rights, falling wages, deteriorating living conditions: Five years of Taliban rule have brought changes to Afghanistan, but not the ones most Afghans hoped for.
As regional security tensions continue to mount amid the protracted conflict between Iran and the US, the leaders of Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Turkey came together on August 7 to sign a joint defense agreement in order to "strengthen collective deterrence against any act of aggression."
Afghanistan's Badakhshan Province has been the scene of a spate of attacks in recent weeks carried out by armed opposition groups that have waged a low-level insurgency against the Taliban in recent years.
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