Ashfaq Yusufzai

The drone attack that killed Tehreek Taliban Pakistan chief Hakimullah Mahsud this week seems also to have killed hopes that drone attacks will end. “After the recent debate in international media about U.S-led drone attacks, there was some hope these illegal strikes would end,” Muhammad Bashir a dental surgeon from North Waziristan Agency, tells IPS. … Continue reading “Drone Attack Kills More Than Taliban Chief”

PESHAWAR – The past two months has seen an upsurge in violence unleashed by Pakistani Taliban in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) and the adjacent tribal areas bordering Afghanistan. The most recent was the brazen series of attacks on North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) supply containers, the most recent in Peshawar on Dec. 7, … Continue reading “Pro-Govt Fighters, Under Attack by Taliban, ‘Betrayed’ by Kabul”

PESHAWAR – The world knows the Taliban as armed fighters who have unleashed a wave of violence in Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan including devastating suicide bomb attacks, the most recent on the luxurious Marriot Hotel in high-security Islamabad last week. But not all Taliban wield guns. In seminaries scattered over the restive, northern parts of … Continue reading “‘Militants Are Not Taliban, We Are’”

PESHAWAR – A week-long campaign of suicide bombings that killed more than 130 people across Pakistan, has seriously demoralized security personnel in the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan, that have become a safe haven for the Taliban and the al-Qaeda. Directed at police and army targets, the bombings are believed to have been carried out to … Continue reading “Suicide Bombings Demoralize Security Forces”

PESHAWAR, Pakistan – As Afghanistan gets ready to start counting votes Wednesday from a historic presidential election, after several key candidates threatened to declare the poll illegal, Afghan refugees living in Pakistan were confident incumbent president Hamid Karzai would become the first-ever legitimate head of state and speed up efforts for much-needed peace in the … Continue reading “Karzai Favored by Afghans Living Elsewhere”

PESHAWAR, Pakistan – "We are trying our level best to educate Afghan women on the election process. But their men seem determined to prevent them from voting on election day," says electoral officer Shahla Ghaffar Khan. "Many women are also reluctant to register as voters because they are forbidden by their husbands or male elders … Continue reading “Afghan Women Discouraged From Voting”