Afghanistan

The former minister was seemingly referring to Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General (DG) Babar Iftikhar DG ISPR's recent remarks on the matter, Dawn reported. In a brief interview with Geo News on Friday night, the DG ISPR ruled out the possibility, saying there was no question of Pakistan soil being used for "such a purpose". In a tweet on Saturday, Chaudhry wrote: "The question is whether Pakistan's airspace was allowed to be used to not."

The US may consider a round of sanctions against the Taliban regime since its hiding al-Zawahiri, the mastermind of 9/11 World Trade Center (WTC) attacks with Osama Bin Laden and the attacks on the Kenyan and another embassy on American soil. The Al Qaeda leader was also behind the suicide attack against USS Cole, a guided missile destroyer of the US Navy, that killed 17 sailors. In the attack, terrorists exploded a small boat alongside the USS Cole as it was refueling in the Yemen's Aden port.

Al-Zawahiri had overseen the September 11 attacks on the US in 2001, that killed 2,977 people, along with Osama bin-Laden, who was killed by the US in 2011 in Pakistan. Al-Zawahiri, an Egyptian by birth who had trained to be a medical doctor, had a US reward of $25 million for information leading to his capture. The US holds him responsible also for the bombing of its embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998 and on its naval ship USS Cole in 2000.

Following reports of at least two explosions in the capital's Wazir Akbar Khan and Sherpur areas, Nabil posted his statement on his Twitter handle. "American drones were seen in the airspace of KBL and struck different locations in Kabul," the former NDS director wrote. Nabil also stated that the explosions that occurred on Sunday in Kabul are "most likely" a "IS-K hideout," citing a clause of the Doha agreement, to which the US and the Taliban are parties, which states that the US will help the Taliban combat and defeat IS-K, Khaama Press reported.

As the Taliban government seeks to get the Da Afghanistan Bank (DAB) assets, the Joe Biden administration wants assurances that the money would be spent on helping the Afghan people, Pajhwok News reported. The State Department said the United States renewed its pledge of $55 million in fresh aid for the earthquake survivors in Afghanistan.

Governor of Da Afghanistan Bank Mohammad Idris and Deputy Finance Minister Nazir Kabiri are also members of the Afghan delegation that departed Kabul on Wednesday, reports Khaama Press. Ahmad Wali Haqmal, a spokesperson for the Finance Ministry in Kabul, said the delegation will meet Thomas West, the US Special Representative for Afghanistan, and officials from the Treasury Department.

The Centre has dispatched 27 tons of emergency relief assistance to earthquake-hit Afghanistan, Ministry of External Affairs said on Friday.. "In the wake of tragic earthquake that struck Afghanistan on June 22, 2022 causing massive destruction and loss of precious lives, the Government of India, as a true first responder, has dispatched 27 tons of emergency relief assistance in two flights for the people of Afghanistan", an MEA statement said.

India's Permanent Representative T.S. Tirumurti told the UN Security Council on Thursday, "We need to see concrete progress in ensuring that such proscribed terrorists, entities or their aliases do not get any support, tacit or direct, either from Afghan soil or from the terror sanctuaries based in the region."

Deputy State Minister for Natural Disaster Management in Taliban-led government, Mawlavi Sharfuddin, said in a press conference that 920 people were killed and 610 others injured in the quake, the state-run Bakhtar News Agency said in a tweet. The casualties were reported from Barmal, Ziruk, Naka and Gayan districts of Paktika province.

Some 255 people lost their lives in Barmal, Ziruk, Naka and Gayan districts of Paktika province, the most-hit eastern province, state-run Bakhtar News Agency reported, citing the latest local sources. Helicopters and rescue teams have arrived in the affected areas. In neighbouring Khost province, at least 25 people were killed and 95 others wounded, the report said.