Afghanistan
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Education
She spoke no French when she arrived … Afghan girl obtains French baccalaureate with honors
CAEN: A young Afghani girl has become a media star after she impressed with her learning aptitudes and linguistic skills. When Zainab arrived in France with her family in 2021, the 16-year-old girl did not speak a word of French. Two years later, she obtained her baccalaureate (the secondary school…
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South Asia
Pakistan delegation visits Kabul, holds talks with Taliban
By Nasir Aijaz, The AsiaN Representative ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif, Director General of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), country’s spy agency, and Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar visited Kabul and held important meetings with acting Deputy Prime Minister Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar and other high-ranking officials…
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Politics
U.N. chief appoints former Kyrgyzstan president as Afghanistan envoy
UNITED NATIONS: U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has appointed former president of Kyrgyzstan Roza Otunbayeva as his new Special Representative for Afghanistan and Head of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA). Otunbayeva replaces Deborah Lyons who stepped down in mid-June, the United Nations said in a statement. According to…
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Politics
NATO recommendations should be used to save lives
With Anders Fogh Rasmussen NATO Secretary General (2009 – 2014) and Nicola de Santis By Habib Toumi BAHRAIN: Going through the recent assessment of NATO’s engagement in Afghanistan and the ensuing recommendations, I had an eerie feeling of déjà-vu. One recommendation read: “When planning and conducting future operations, Allies should…
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Politics
Iran and Afghanistan: So far, so close
By Alireza Bahrami TEHRAN: The relationship between Iran and Afghanistan has historically been a series of contradictions and similarities. During the Persian Empire, in the distant years, Afghanistan and Tajikistan were also part of Greater Persia. In modern political geography, Iran, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan are the three countries where the…
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Politics
Setting the record straight in Afghanistan: Need to explain what NATO really did
ROMA: The former number two of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has insisted on setting the record straight on what happened in Afghanistan, making a clear distinction between what the Americans did and what the alliance did. “In Afghanistan, the mistakes made are there for all to see, but…
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Politics
Singapore keeps an eye on Kabul after aiding refugee pull-out
By Ivan Lim Former AJA President, Contributor to AsiaN SINGAPORE: During the last acts of the United States’ precipitous retreat from Afghanistan in mid-August, Singapore got a piece of action -helping in the historic, if chaotic, airlift of thousands of Americans and Afghans fleeing the Taliban forces closing in on…
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Politics
Afghanistan and media top agenda as AJA discusses options in virtual meeting
SEOUL: Keen on properly understanding and assessing the latest development in Afghanistan and their repercussions, the Zoom meeting of the Asia Journalists Association (AJA) was devoted to Afghanistan. The journalists coming from 10 countries discussed the situation from different angles with a multitude of views to share and explore, “just like those…
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South Asia
Pakistan: After-effects of Taliban takeover in Afghanistan
By Nasir Aijaz, The AsiaN Representative KARACHI: No battle fought, no armed clashes or encounter took place with American and allied forces or even with Afghan army, yet the world witnessed that the US-installed Afghan President fled and the Taliban got hold of Kabul without any resistance. This resulted in…
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Politics
Situation in Afghanistan defies solutions amid lack of genuine will, absence of sensible moves
CAIRO: Asia Journalist Association President Ashraf Aboul-Yazid has ruled out the possibility of a real solution to the Afghanistan crisis in the near future. “I am pessimistic. If I say there is a solution, I think I am far from the right thing because the cycle of this threat…
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