Taliban

Later, the Afghan Army Chief General Sher Mohamed made another accusation in an interview to the BBC, alleging that Pakistan effectively controlled the Afghan Taliban. Moreover, he claimed that fighting in Afghanistan could be stopped in weeks if Pakistan told the Afghan Taliban to end the insurgency.

Khalil is known to be close to the Afghan Taliban, the Pakistani intelligence establishment and had been closer to Osama bin Laden and Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar.

Two sources close to the Afghan Taliban in northwestern Pakistan confirmed that four prisoners had been released but said they did not include Pakistan's most high-profile Taliban detainee, former deputy leader Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar.

KABUL, Afghanistan: The killing of Osama bin Laden may weaken Al-Qaeda's influence on the Afghan Taliban, the U.S.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates this week urged Pakistan to root out Afghan Taliban factions based in its northwestern border enclaves, from where they have been orchestrating an intensified insurgency in Afghanistan.

For the reason of mitigating further loss to human life and for the sake of peace, the US and other countries have sought to bring Afghan Taliban leaders to the negotiating table.

The talks were scheduled in Islamabad after the Afghan Taliban agreed for it but Kabul launched protest terming the proposed dialogue in Islamabad as violation of its sovereignty.

Tahir Khan, senior journalist and expert in Afghan affairs said that the recent first round of talks between Afghan Taliban and US officials was launched in Qatar.

The Afghan Taliban have discovered that all the countries in the region are worried about an insecure Afghanistan that could destabilize the region.

The decision to hold the next round of talks between the US and Afghan Taliban in Islamabad was taken on Friday during a meeting between the US envoy and Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi.

Foreign Office spokesman Dr Mohammad Faisal said he had no knowledge of the meeting between US special representative Zalmay Khalilzad and Afghan Taliban representatives but the sources said Pakistan had conveyed to the Taliban leadership its desire to convene a meeting in Islamabad this week to push forward the peace agenda.

It is very unfortunate that after the announcement 10 days ceasefire by the Afghan government and stopping hostilities by afghan Taliban during three days of Eidul Fitr incidents of violence occurred on the second and third day of Eid.

Summary: Islamabad [Pakistan], Jan 31 (ANI): Pakistan handed at least 27 suspects belonging to Afghan Taliban and Haqqani network to Afghanistan, Pakistan's Foreign Ministry Office said on Wednesday.

LAHORE -- A United States drone strike on Friday bombed the hideout of an Afghan Taliban commander Maulana Asmatullah Zaeef, killing the commander, his son-in-law and his nephew, in upper Kurram Agency area, Ghaz Ghari, near Pakistan-Afghanistan border.

As the Iraq and Syria-based Islamic State (IS) is gradually entrenching itself in war-torn Afghanistan, it is entering into turf rivalry with the largest insurgent Afghan group, the Afghan Taliban, resulting in bloody clashes.