Abubakar Siddique, a journalist for RFE/RL's Radio Azadi, specializes in the coverage of Afghanistan and Pakistan. He is the author of The Pashtun Question: The Unresolved Key To The Future Of Pakistan And Afghanistan.
Two top U.S. defense officials visited Afghanistan and Pakistan for talks with government and military leaders. The visits came days after the U.S. announced its intention to adopt a new military strategy to better combat a growing Taliban and Al-Qaeda insurgency in both countries.
Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari is holding talks with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, his first meeting with a western leader since taking office on September 9.
There was no immediate government response from Pakistan, but that country's military insists it will not allow foreign troops to carry out operations on its soil.
Seven years after 9/11 and with the U.S. spotlight back on the terrorist threat emanating from Pakistan, hopes for a rapprochement between Kabul and Islamabad have added urgency. Can two notoriously bad neighbors work together to clean up the neighborhood?
Following a sweeping victory in the indirect presidential elections on September 6, Asif Ali Zardari, the husband of the assassinated former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, was sworn in as Pakistani president. The ceremony in Islamabad was attended by Afghan President Hamid Karzai as the two countries try to improve strained relations.
A crucial challenge facing President-elect Asif Ali Zardari is addressing the complex problems in the country's tribal areas, where the Taliban and Al-Qaeda are thought to have sanctuaries and where local residents are becoming increasingly alienated and impoverished.
Zardari has worked to transform his image from a flamboyant former businessman to an astute leader seeking democracy in his country.
Asif Ali Zardari, the widower of assassinated former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and chairman of Pakistan's largest political party, is favored to win the September 6 presidential poll in Pakistan.
Asif Ali Zardari's critics accuse him of corruption and abuse of power. But supporters call him a courageous leader who ably led his party to victory in February following the assassination of his wife, former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.
An Afghan government investigation has found that some 90 civilians, including 60 children and teenagers, were killed in a coalition air strike in a village in the western Afghan province of Herat on August 22.
Pakistani authorities say that recent fighting between the military and Taliban insurgents in the Bajaur tribal district has displaced at least 250,000 ethnic Pashtuns from the region.
Embattled Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has resigned after months of uncertainty. But his resignation raises many questions and poses new problems as Pakistan grapples with an economic crisis and an expanding Taliban and Al-Qaeda insurgency along its western borders with Afghanistan.
In a historic move, Pakistan's ruling coalition has announced an impeachment bid against President Pervez Musharraf. The former general assumed power in a bloodless coup on October 12, 1999, but has seen his influence reduced since he retired from the military last year and his political allies lost elections in February.
Thousands of people are fleeing northwestern Pakistan's Swat Valley as battles between the army and Taliban militants and other insurgents continue to rage. As the United States increases pressure on Pakistan to attack militant sanctuaries, politicians and analysts are alarmed by the deteriorating security situation.
Two former Pakistani generals, one of whom is the former head of the country's Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) agency, reject Afghan allegations that Pakistani agents were behind an attack this week on the Indian Embassy in Kabul that killed 41 people.
Some 5,000 Pakistani paramilitary troops seek to put an end to the growing influence of pro-Taliban militants in and around Peshawar, a strategic city of some 3 million people located just east of a key pass leading into Afghanistan.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai has said that Kabul reserves the right to strike Taliban insurgents on Pakistani soil as a form of self-defense against cross-border attacks. This comes just days after U.S.-led forces carried out an air strike in a Pakistani tribal area bordering Afghanistan.
Pakistani lawyers are demanding President Pervez Musharraf's resignation and the restoration of the chief justice. The protest represents a challenge both to Musharraf and to the new coalition government.
After a two-month lull in the violence that has plagued Pakistan's border regions, a suicide bombing highlights obstacles on the path to peace and development.
The new coalition government says the abolition of the century-old Frontier Crimes Regulations in the troubled tribal areas along the Afghan border is among its major reform inititiatives.
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