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.
A former senior Taliban official has criticized the group’s ban on women’s education.
The increasing number of public executions being carried out under the Taliban marks a return to the Islamist group's infamous approach to meting out justice and underscores its renewed commitment to its strict interpretation of Shari'a law.
A popular Afghan poet is languishing in a Taliban prison in what his family and rights activist sees as another attack on freedom of expression by the hard-line Islamist group.
The Taliban’s use of corporal and capital punishments and retributive justice underscores its commitment to imposing strict Islamic Shari'a law.
The Taliban refused to attend a major conference sponsored by the United Nations. The meeting came amid a standoff between the extremist group and the international community, which is keen to improve dialogue with Taliban-ruled Afghanistan.
The Taliban opposes the appointment of a UN special envoy, a leading international interlocutor who would promote dialogue among Afghans.
Former lawmaker Mohsin Dawar was shot and wounded when he protested the results of the election in northwestern Pakistan. He is among scores of candidates who are challenging the results of the disputed February 8 general elections, which were marred by widespread allegations of vote rigging.
Rival political parties are in talks to form a coalition government after no clear winner emerged from the February 8 general elections. Experts say the most likely outcome is a coalition between former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and the Pakistan People's Party.
Pakistan’s powerful army was accused of orchestrating the jailing of opposition figure Imran Khan and the crackdown on his Pakistan PTI party ahead of the February 8 general elections. Despite the obstacles, independent candidates backed by Khan appear poised to win the most seats in the vote.
See also: Calls for release of Afghan education activists
Many Pakistanis are disillusioned by the powerful army’s alleged meddling ahead of the February 8 general elections.
Welcome to The Azadi Briefing, an RFE/RL newsletter that unpacks the key issues in Afghanistan. To subscribe, click here. I'm Abubakar Siddique, senior correspondent at RFE/RL's Radio Azadi. Here's what I've been tracking and what I'm keeping an eye on in the days ahead.
Welcome to The Azadi Briefing, an RFE/RL newsletter that unpacks the key issues in Afghanistan. I'm Abubakar Siddique, senior correspondent at RFE/RL's Radio Azadi. Here's what I've been tracking and what I'm keeping an eye on in the days ahead.
The Taliban has said it will grant the equivalent of high school diplomas and bachelor's and master's degrees to thousands of madrasah graduates. The move is seen as an attempt to undermine secular education in Afghanistan.
In a move to expand censorship, the Taliban confiscated more than 50,000 books this week in Kabul alone.
Iran and Pakistan have engaged in deadly tit-for-tat strikes in recent days, reigniting a row between the neighbors over cross-border militancy. Experts say the recent strikes are a major escalation that has plunged relations into crisis.
See also: Pakistani leader’s curious Taliban reconciliation bid
The February 8 parliamentary elections in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province are under threat of violent attacks by the Pakistani Taliban and other Islamist militants.
Afghan journalists have endured a tightening of the Taliban's censorship amid growing persecution during the past year. Afghan media watchdogs say the hard-line Islamist group has tortured, detained, and threatened Afghan journalists as it actively denies them access to information.
After a 1,000-kilometer march, hundreds of Baluch women and children are protesting in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, to demand that the government reveal what's happened to their disappeared relatives and account for those killed extrajudicially during a two-decade rebellion.
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