ISLAMABAD: Ambassador Muhammad Sadiq, Pakistan’s special envoy for Afghan peace, is visiting Doha to participate in the Regional Conference on Afghanistan and a two-day meeting of the Troika Plus mechanism, the Pakistani foreign office said.
The Troika is a platform to discuss Afghanistan led by the United States, China, Russia. Its meetings come three weeks before the August 31 date that Washington set for the official withdrawal of its military forces in Afghanistan.
“This meeting of Troika Plus in Doha is taking place at an important time when the security situation in Afghanistan is continuously deteriorating particularly as the withdrawal of US and NATO troops from the country continues,” the foreign office said. “Pakistan hopes that the meetings in Doha would help facilitate resumption of Intra-Afghan Negotiations with a view to achieve a political solution for a peaceful, stable and prosperous Afghanistan, at peace with itself and with its neighbors.”
Afghan Taliban insurgents have taken dozens of districts and border crossings in recent months and on Tuesday, Pul-e-Khumri, capital of the northern province of Baghlan, fell to insurgents, becoming the seventh regional capital to come under their control in about a week.
Taliban forces now control 65 percent of Afghanistan, threaten to take 11 provincial capitals and seek to deprive Kabul of its traditional support from national forces in the north, a senior European Union official said on Tuesday.
Peace talks between the Afghan government and Taliban negotiators started last year in the Qatari capital of Doha, but have not made any substantive progress.
Pakistan’s special envoy in Doha for ‘troika’ meetings on Afghanistan today
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Pakistan’s special envoy in Doha for ‘troika’ meetings on Afghanistan today
- The Troika is a platform to discuss Afghanistan led by the United States, China, Russia
- Meetings come three weeks before deadline for official withdrawal of US military forces in Afghanistan
Security forces kill four militants in Pakistan’s volatile southwest, military says
- Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest province by land area bordering Iran and Afghanistan, has long been the site of a low-level insurgency
- The Balochistan government has recently established a threat assessment center to strengthen early warning, prevent ‘terrorism’ incidents
ISLAMABAD: Pakistani security forces gunned down four militants in an intelligence-based operation in the southwestern Balochistan province, the military said on Tuesday.
The operation was conducted in Balochistan’s Kalat district on reports about the presence of militants, according to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the Pakistani military’s media wing.
The “Indian-sponsored militants” were killed in an exchange of fire during the operation, while weapons and ammunition were also recovered from the deceased, who remained actively involved in numerous militant activities.
“Sanitization operations are being conducted to eliminate any other Indian-sponsored terrorist found in the area,” the ISPR said in a statement.
There was no immediate response from New Delhi to the statement.
Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest province by land area bordering Iran and Afghanistan, has long been the site of a low-level insurgency involving Baloch separatist groups, including the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) and the Balochistan Liberation Front (BLF).
Pakistan accuses India of supporting these separatist militant groups and describes them as “Fitna Al-Hindustan.” New Delhi denies the allegation.
The government in Balochistan has also established a state-of-the-art threat assessment center to strengthen early warning and prevention against “terrorism” incidents, a senior official said this week.
“Information that was once scattered is now shared and acted upon in time, allowing the state to move from reacting after incidents to preventing them before they occur,” Balochistan Additional Chief Secretary Hamza Shafqaat wrote on X.
The development follows a steep rise in militancy-related deaths in Pakistan in 2025. According to statistics released by the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies (PICSS) last month, combat-related deaths in 2025 rose 73 percent to 3,387.
These included 2,115 militants, 664 security forces personnel, 580 civilians and 28 members of pro-government peace committees, the think tank said.
