Afghanistan News Highlights: Pak PM Imran Khan says he ‘initiated a dialogue’ with Taliban for inclusive govt

The Pentagon retreated from its defence of a drone strike that killed multiple civilians in Afghanistan last month, announcing Friday that a review revealed that only civilians were killed in the attack, not an Islamic State extremist as first believed. Stay tuned for more updates.

Pak PM Imran says he ‘initiated a dialogue’ with Taliban for inclusive Afghan govt

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Saturday said that he has “initiated a dialogue” with the Taliban for an inclusive Afghanistan government having Tajiks, Hazaras and Uzbeks, a day after the SCO members sought representation for all ethnic, religious and political groups in the new dispensation.

The Taliban, which seized control of Afghanistan in mid-August, had promised an "inclusive" government that represents Afghanistan's complex ethnic makeup, but there is no Hazara member and no woman in the interim 33-member Cabinet. - PTI.

'Afghanistan can't become Scandinavian in 17 days'

Pakistan’s Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid has said that it is not possible to expect Afghanistan to become a "Scandinavian country" in a short period of time as Kabul progresses at its own pace.

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After Afghanistan pullout, US seeks NATO basing, intel pacts

Against the backdrop of the troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, the top U.S. military officer is meeting in Greece with NATO counterparts this weekend, hoping to forge more basing, intelligence sharing and other agreements to prevent terrorist groups from regrouping and threatening America and the region.

Army Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the meeting of NATO defense chiefs will focus in part on the way ahead now that all alliance troops have pulled out of Afghanistan and the Taliban are in control.

Milley, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and American intelligence officials have warned that al-Qaida or the Islamic State group could regenerate in Afghanistan and pose a threat to the United States in one year to two years. - AP.

Iran won't allow IS presence on Afghan border: president

Iran will not allow the Islamic State group to establish a presence on the country's border with Afghanistan, President Ebrahim Raisi warned on Saturday. - AFP.

#DoNotTouchMyClothes: Afghan women's message to Taliban

The Taliban's return to power in Afghanistan has sounded a death knell for women's rights in the war-torn country, with the Islamist group mandating head-to-toe coverings and gender-segregated classrooms in schools and universities.

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At least 2 dead, 19 wounded in blasts in Afghanistan's Jalalabad

Gun-toting Taliban mingle with families and kids at Kabul Zoo

Taliban soldiers cradling AK-47s and M16 assault rifles mingle among families at Kabul Zoo, a novelty experience for many of the young fighters from rural Afghanistan.

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Girls excluded from returning to secondary school in Afghanistan

Girls were excluded from returning to secondary school inAfghanistanon Saturday, after the country's new Taliban rulers ordered only boys and male teachers back to the classroom.

The hardline Islamist group ousted the US-backed government last month, promising a softer brand of rule than their repressive reign in the 1990s, when women were mostly banned from education and work. (AFP)

Taliban replace women's government ministry

Afghanistan's Taliban rulers have replaced the women's ministry with an all-male “vice and virtue ministry" tasked with enforcing the group's rigid interpretation of Islam.

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Three dead as series of explosions hit Afghanistan's Nangarhar province

Witnesses say a series of three explosions that targeted Taliban vehicles in the capital of Afghanistan's eastern Nangarhar province has left at least three dead and 20 wounded.

No one immediately took responsibility for the attack Saturday in Jalalabad, but the increasingly violent Islamic State group affiliate is headquartered in eastern Afghanistan and are enemies of Afghanistan's new Taliban rulers. (AP)

IED explosion in Kabul's PD 13 injures two, say eyewitnesses: Report

UNHCR chief says 'space for discussion' with Taliban over human rights

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Filippo Grandi said on Friday he found that the Taliban have space for discussion and engagement on human rights issues, including women and minorities rights.

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Taliban’s nightmare: Fearless women

Every repressive regime, however mighty and powerful, has its nightmares. For the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, the worst nightmare has proven to be the country’s women who are articulate, aware of their rights, dream of building careers or women who have displayed unmatched resilience and have marched boldly on the streets to reclaim their right to freedom, despite knowing that they are fighting a regime that is regressive, patriarchal and anti-democratic in orientation.

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US Defense Secretary apologises for strike that killed 10 Afghan civilians

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin apologised Friday for a drone strike in the Afghan capital Kabul that mistakenly killed 10 civilians, including children, during the chaotic US pullout last month.

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Pentagon reverses itself, calls deadly Kabul strike an error

The Pentagon retreated from its defence of a drone strike that killed multiple civilians in Afghanistan last month, announcing Friday that a review revealed that only civilians were killed in the attack, not an Islamic State extremist as first believed.

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