Asia

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and Turkey’s Tayyip Erdogan discussed the situation in Afghanistan during a phone call and agreed to strengthen bilateral coordination on Afghan issues, the Kremlin said in a statement on Saturday. The presidents emphasized the priority was counter-terrorism and efforts to tackle drug trafficking, the Kremlin said.

There are currently about 5,800 US troops at the airport in Kabul to help with evacuation efforts, a US official said on Friday. US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has ordered about 6,000 troops to Kabul, a number that is expected to be reached in the coming days. NATO on Friday …

Indonesian police have arrested 53 militants suspected of planning an attack on independence day this week, including alleged members of networks blamed for past attacks like the 2002 Bali bombings, the police said on Friday. Some of those arrested were from the group Jemaah Islamiah (JI), a jihadist network with …

Confidential UN threat assessment report says group making door-to-door visits of people who worked with US and NATO forces. The Taliban is going house-to-house searching for opponents and their families, according to a United Nations threat assessment report, deepening fears that Afghanistan‘s new rulers are planning revenge. After routing government …

A German civilian was shot on his was to Kabul airport but is not in a life-threatening condition and will soon be flown out of Afghanistan, a German government spokeswoman said on Friday. “A German civilian suffered a gunshot wound on his way to Kabul airport. He is receiving medical …

Malaysia’s king appointed Ismail Sabri Yaakob as the prime minister on Friday, returning the job to a party tainted by graft accusations as the southeast Asian nation grapples with a COVID-19 surge and an economic slump. Ismail Sabri replaces Muhyiddin Yassin, who stepped down on Monday after coalition infighting cost …

At least two people were killed in Asadabad city when the Taliban opened fire following a stabbing attempt. At least two people have been killed after the Taliban opened fire at a crowd celebrating independence day in Asadabad, witnesses said. In Jalalabad, Taliban fighters fired at people waving the Afghan …

At least five people were killed and 50 others were injured when a bomb exploded near a procession of Muharram mourners in Punjab, Pakistan, news sources said. An explosion targeting an Ashura procession in Pakistan’s Punjab has killed at least five people and injured dozens more, Al-Mayadeen reported. Videos circulating …

Spain plans to airlift around 500 people including Spanish embassy staff and Afghans who worked with them and their families from Kabul, radio station Cadena SER said on Wednesday, citing sources close to the evacuation. A first military plane landed at Kabul airport late on Wednesday morning, the Spanish Foreign …

China has again called on the US to abide by the provisions of the Beijing-Washington communique and halt military ties to Chinese Taipei, insisting that the island territory is an inalienable part of China. Marking the 39th anniversary of the issuance of the communique regarding arms sales to the Chinese …

At least three people were killed in anti-Taliban protests in the Afghan city of Jalalabad on Wednesday, witnesses said, as the Islamist group moved to consolidate power and Western countries ramped up evacuations from a chaotic Kabul airport. Thousands of people are trying to flee the country, fearing a return …

A Singapore court sentenced a British man to six weeks in prison on Wednesday, local media reported, after he repeatedly breached coronavirus protocols by refusing to wear a face mask in public. Benjamin Glynn, 40, was found guilty on four charges over his failure to wear a mask on a …

Malaysia’s king will name a new prime minister as soon as possible but the appointee will have to face a confidence vote in parliament to prove his majority, the palace said in a statement on Wednesday. Muhyiddin Yassin resigned as prime minister on Monday after conceding he had lost his …

China’s President Xi Jinping on Wednesday spoke with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, Chinese state television said. China will unswervingly develop friendly relations with Iran and the two sides should continue to support each other on issues concerning each other’s core interests and major concerns, Xi was quoted by the state …

German Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke with Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Kahn, the Emir of Qatar and the head of the U.N. Refugee Agency (UNHCR) on Tuesday evening, her spokesman said on Wednesday. “The chancellor spoke yesterday, in the early evening, with Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Kahn as well as with …

Seventeen people were injured on Wednesday in a stampede at a gate to the airport in the Afghan capital, Kabul, a NATO security official said, as Western countries stepped up the evacuation of their diplomats and others. Afghan civilians seeking to leave after the Taliban seized the capital on Sunday …

A statue of a prominent anti-Taliban fighter killed by the group before they took power for the first time in the 1990s has been decapitated in Bamiyan city, residents said Tuesday. “We are not sure who has blown up the statue (of Abdul Ali Mazari), but there are different groups …

As they completed their takeover of Afghanistan, the Taliban insisted that they would not revert to the brutal medieval rule that turned the hardline Islamist group into an international pariah in the late 1990s. Dubbed the Taliban 2.0 for their skilled use of social media, the militant’s image revamp is …

Beijing has held military assault drills near Chinese Taipei, in what its armed forces described as a show of force against “provocations” and “external interference” in the mainland’s affairs. China’s military said in a statement on Tuesday that it had dispatched warships, anti-submarine aircraft and fighter to carry out “joint …

China says it is ready to deepen “friendly and cooperative” relations with Afghanistan in the wake of the Taliban’s takeover of Kabul. The Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said at a regular press briefing on Monday that China welcomed the chance to deepen ties with Afghanistan. “We welcome this. China …