Pakistan hospital bomb attack kills dozens in Quetta

A suicide bomb attack has killed 69 people at a hospital in Quetta in south-west Pakistan, officials say. About 120 others were injured in the blast, which happened at the entrance to the emergency department where the body of a prominent lawyer shot dead earlier on Monday was being brought. The casualties included lawyers and […]

Pentagon withholds $300 million in military aid to Pakistan

The Pentagon has withheld $300 million in military assistance to Pakistan, U.S. officials said Wednesday, a potential blow to U.S.-Pakistani ties and a sign of ongoing frustration with Islamabad for not acting against militants fueling violence in Afghanistan. Adam Stump, a Pentagon spokesman, said that Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter had decided against making a certification […]

Pentagon withholds $300 million in military aid to Pakistan

The Pentagon has withheld $300 million in military assistance to Pakistan, U.S. officials said Wednesday, a potential blow to U.S.-Pakistani ties and a sign of ongoing frustration with Islamabad for not acting against militants fueling violence in Afghanistan. Adam Stump, a Pentagon spokesman, said that Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter had decided against making a certification […]

Osama Bin Laden’s Pakistan compound could become kids’ playground

The compound where Osama bin Laden was hiding when Navy SEALs found and killed him five years ago looks set to become a children’s playground, according to a local official. Or maybe a graveyard. The site in Abbottabad, Pakistan, where the al Qaeda founder and 9/11 mastermind spent his last years has now become the […]

Taliban claim responsibility for killing a popular Sufi in Pakistan

Sufism very much operates in the gray area in Islam, even more so than Shia. The mystical aspect of it is confusing to many… Traditional Sufis spend their lives going to extremes to connect with God on a personal level, through singing, dancing, poetry, taking intoxicating substances, and meditation.

Why Pakistan Is the Biggest Beneficiary of Mullah Mansour’s Death

On May 21, 2016, for the first time ever, a supreme leader of the Afghan Taliban was killed by a direct airstrike by U.S. forces. This was hailed as a remarkable achievement for the American and Afghan governments. The Taliban leader, Mullah Akhtar Mansour, was killed along with his driver in the Balochistan province of Pakistan […]

Why Afghanistan Peace Prospects Look Worse After Mansour’s Death

American and Afghan officials heralded new prospects for peace after the Taliban‘s leader died in an airstrike — but signs suggest strife in the region is bound to get worse. In wake of Mullah Akhtar Mansour’s death on May 21, Secretary of State John Kerry said: “Peace is what we want. Mansour was a threat […]

An offshoot of al-Qaeda is regrouping in Pakistan

Five years after most senior al-Qaeda leaders are thought to have fled this port city, officials in Karachi worry that the organization is regrouping and finding new support here and in neighboring Afghanistan. They are especially concerned about the recruitment of potential foot soldiers for the next major terrorist attack. The resurgence has been managed […]

Who are the Pakistani group proposing to ‘lightly beat’ women?

What is the Council of Islamic Ideology? It is a 20-member constitutional body that advises the government on religious aspects of the law and society – but its recommendations are not binding. The council was created by a military government in 1961. The constitution states that CII members should be well-qualified. It specifies that the […]