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Foreign Minister of Pakistan Khawaja Muhammad Asif holds bilateral meeting with Kamilov Abdul Aziz Khafizovich, Foreign Minister of Uzbekistan on the sidelines of the meeting of Council of Foreign Ministers’ of SCO Member States

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The Foreign Minister of Pakistan Khawaja Muhammad Asif held a bilateral meeting today with Kamilov Abdul Aziz Khafizovich, Foreign Minister of Uzbekistan at Beijing on the sidelines of the Council of Foreign Ministers’ meeting of the Shanghai Cooperati…

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Quake of 5.2 in Turkey injures 39

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In Turkey, an earthquake of 5.2 magnitudes struck in the south eastern province of Adiyaman early today, injuring 39 people and damaging buildings.State-run Anadolu news agency reported quoting Health Minister Ahmet Demircan that 35 of the 39 injured w…

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Pakistan, Russia Hold High-Level Security Talks

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ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN �

Russia and Pakistan have held their first national security advisers-level bilateral talks in Moscow, focusing on prospects for closer cooperation in defense, space, cyber security, nuclear, intelligence-sharing as well as trade.

Pakistani National Security Adviser, Nasser Janjua, and Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, Nikolai Patrushev, led their respective delegations in the two-day meeting that ended on Monday.

A statement released after their meeting said the Pakistani delegation included senior military, civilian, intelligence and officials from the Strategic Plans Division, which oversees the country’s nuclear weapons and missiles program.

The two sides expressed satisfaction at “the positive trajectory and progression” of mutual relationship at bilateral and multilateral levels, the statement noted.

Monday’s wide-ranging high-level discussions happened as a Russian business delegation is due to arrive in Pakistan later this week to explore investment opportunities in various sectors, including banking, railways and telecommunications, government and diplomatic sources told VOA.

ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN �

Russia and Pakistan have held their first national security advisers-level bilateral talks in Moscow, focusing on prospects for closer cooperation in defense, space, cyber security, nuclear, intelligence-sharing as well as trade.

Pakistani National Security Adviser, Nasser Janjua, and Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, Nikolai Patrushev, led their respective delegations in the two-day meeting that ended on Monday.

A statement released after their meeting said the Pakistani delegation included senior military, civilian, intelligence and officials from the Strategic Plans Division, which oversees the country’s nuclear weapons and missiles program.

The two sides expressed satisfaction at “the positive trajectory and progression” of mutual relationship at bilateral and multilateral levels, the statement noted.

Monday’s wide-ranging high-level discussions happened as a Russian business delegation is due to arrive in Pakistan later this week to explore investment opportunities in various sectors, including banking, railways and telecommunications, government and diplomatic sources told VOA.

In a recent interview with VOA, Pakistani Defense Minister Khurram Dastgir said Islamabad and Moscow have been able to “transcend” their history of mistrust, leading to improved mutual ties.

“It is a beginning because, of course, that history of mistrust and essentially standing on two opposite sides is there; but, both countries, because of many geo-strategic reasons, now find it a more optimal path to be cooperating with each other,” noted Dastgir.

The bilateral re-engagement between Islamabad and Moscow gained traction in 2014 when the two signed a defense cooperation framework agreement during the Russian defense minister’s landmark visit to Pakistan.

Under the agreement, Pakistan has purchased four Russian Mi35 combat helicopters to bolster counterterrorism efforts. The delivery of more aircraft is in the works, along with other military hardware.

Pakistani and Russian special forces conducted joint military exercises in 2016 and 2017, and plan to do so again this year, focusing on how to counter terrorism in the region.

Russia and Pakistan are also in talks for potential multi-billion-dollar energy deals, while Moscow will also build a gas pipeline linking the Pakistani cities of Karachi and Lahore.

China has invested an unprecedented $19 billion in Pakistan in the past three years to help the neighboring country build roads, railways, power plants, and ports.

Beijing has pledged to invest an estimated $62 billion by 2030 under the massive cooperation deal known as China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, or CPEC and declared as the flagship project of BRI.

Source: Voice of America

Government

Fresh Attacks by Taliban, IS Kill 19 Afghan Forces, Civilians

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ISLAMABAD �

Authorities in Afghanistan say the latest Taliban and Islamic State attacks have killed 19 people, mostly government security forces.

Taliban insurgents attacked a registration center for potential voters late Sunday in the northwestern Badghis province, killing nine Afghan National Army soldiers and wounding two others.

A senior police official for provincial security, Ghulam Sarwar Haidari, told VOA the slain personnel were deployed at the center to beef up its security in the wake of a recent attack on the building that killed a police guard.

Hadiari said that overnight insurgent attacks on security outposts in another district of Badghis killed seven Afghan security forces.

A Taliban spokesman said it carried out the attacks, claiming 16 government troops were killed.

Separately, officials confirmed Monday that militants linked to IS’s Afghan branch, known as Khorasan Province or IS-K, have beheaded three brothers in the volatile eastern border province of Nangarhar.

Provincial government spokesman Attaullah Khogyani told VOA the overnight slaughter was carried out in the Chaparhar district where IS-K maintains its bases. The victims included a medical doctor, a vaccine campaigner and a medical college student.

Khogyani said that the father of the slain men, also a medical doctor, was recently beheaded by Islamic State.

The violence comes as officials have increased the death toll to nearly 60 from Sunday’s IS-plotted suicide bombing at an election identification card distribution center in Kabul.

IS is locally known as Daesh and launched its extremist activities in Afghanistan, as well as neighboring Pakistan, in early 2015 after establishing bases in Nangarhar.

The group has since extended its extremist activities and has regularly carried out attacks in Kabul, mostly against gatherings and worship places of the minority Shia Hazara community.

Sunday’s IS suicide bombing in the Afghan capital also took place at an election identification card distribution center in a Hazara-dominated part of the city. The powerful blast killed at least 60 people, including women, and wounded more than 120 others.

The bombing was the latest in a series of raids on election-related facilities in Afghanistan since early this month when the Independent Election Commission, IEC, launched its voters’ registration process at provincial headquarters across the war-hit country.

IEC has set October 20 for the long-delayed Afghan parliamentary and district council elections, and the voter registration process will allow authorities to hold polls on the basis of formal voters’ lists for the first time in the country’s history.

The Taliban has urged Afghans to boycott the elections, rejecting them as a “fake” process stage-managed by the United States to bring to power a government of its own choice.

Source: Voice of America

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