Tag - central-asia

 
 

CENTRAL ASIA

WORLD
Sep 14, 2015
Taliban's Mullah Omar died of natural causes in Afghanistan, son says
Mullah Omar, founder of the Afghan Taliban, died of natural causes in Afghanistan, his son said in a statement calling for unity and quashing rumors about his father's mysterious death amid a leadership dispute.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jul 30, 2015
Kabul confirms Taliban chief Omar died in Pakistan in 2013, pushes peace parley
Afghanistan said on Wednesday that Mullah Omar, the elusive leader of the Taliban movement fighting to topple the government, died more than two years ago.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 26, 2015
India and China slug it out in Central Asia
If India doesn't give Central Asia the sustained attention it deserves, China will be able to claim the region as another one of its 'backyards.'
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 24, 2015
Abe looking to visit five Central Asia nations in October
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe plans to visit five Central Asian countries in October as part of efforts to strengthen economic relations with the resource-rich region, government officials said Thursday.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 10, 2015
Why Russia's swing toward China is a mirage
Russia and China have made little progress in the bilateral economic and financial projects that they've announced with considerable fanfare.
WORLD
Jun 30, 2015
Afghan Taliban lose ground to IS loyalists
Fighters loyal to the Islamic State have seized substantial swaths of territory in Afghanistan for the first time, witnesses and officials said, wresting areas in the east from rival Taliban insurgents in a new threat to stability.
Japan Times
WORLD
May 14, 2015
Gunmen storm guest house in Kabul, at least one American dead
Gunmen stormed a guest house popular with foreigners in the Afghan capital Kabul on Wednesday evening, police said, with at least one American killed and dozens others trapped by fighting between the attackers and rescuers.
Japan Times
WORLD
Mar 30, 2015
Suicide attack on Afghan lawmaker kills three in Kabul
An Afghan member of parliament survived a targeted suicide attack in Kabul on Sunday but three people, including a child, were killed and eight others injured, police and government sources said.
Japan Times
WORLD
Mar 23, 2015
Fear of IS drives Shiite Afghans to seek Taliban aid
Even by Afghanistan's standards of often-shifting alliances, a recent meeting between ethnic Hazara elders and local commanders of the Taliban insurgents who have persecuted them for years was extraordinary.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 19, 2015
Japan pledges $16.2 million in aid for Afghanistan, Pakistan refugees
Japan will provide $16.2 million in assistance to back U.N. activities for the welfare of people displaced from Afghanistan and Pakistan's tribal areas.
ASIA PACIFIC
Feb 21, 2015
Afghanistan arrested Chinese Uighurs to get Beijing's help on Taliban talks: officials
Afghanistan arrested and handed over several Muslim Uighur militants from China's west in an effort to persuade China to use its influence with Pakistan to help start negotiations with the Taliban, Afghan security officials said on Friday.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Feb 13, 2015
China offers to mediate in stalled Afghan Taliban peace talks
China offered to mediate in stalled efforts to engage the Afghan Taliban in peace negotiations, reflecting its desire to play a more active role in a region it sees as part of its sphere of influence.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Feb 12, 2015
Afghan Taliban smuggling drugs and gems like mafia: U.N. report
Afghanistan's Taliban Islamist movement is increasingly financed by criminal enterprises including heroin laboratories, illegal ruby and emerald mines and kidnapping, making negotiated peace harder, according to a report for the U.N. Security Council.
WORLD
Feb 12, 2015
Obama seen weighing slower forces drawdown in Afghanistan
President Barack Obama is weighing options for keeping some U.S. troops in Afghanistan longer than planned, while maintaining the goal of ending military operations by 2017, according to an administration official.
WORLD
Feb 9, 2015
Drone kills veteran Afghan militant with suspected IS links
A drone strike in Afghanistan killed six people Monday including a veteran militant suspected of having defected to Islamic State from the Taliban, senior Afghan officials in Helmand province said.
Japan Times
WORLD / Politics
Jan 5, 2015
Afghan president urges U.S. rethink of pullout deadline
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said in an interview broadcast on Sunday that the United States might want to "re-examine" the timetable for removing the remaining U.S.-led coalition troops in the country by the end of 2016.
Japan Times
WORLD
Dec 29, 2014
U.S.-led mission in Afghanistan ends combat role; thousands of foreign troops stay on
The U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan formally ended its combat mission on Sunday, more than 13 years after an international alliance ousted the Taliban government for sheltering the planners of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on American cities.
COMMENTARY
Dec 11, 2014
The devil lies in the details of Sino-Russian relations
Despite the much publicized energy transactions, a deep gulf remains between China and Russia. The moment of truth in their relations will come once the U.S. has pulled its troops out of Afghanistan and the rest of Central Asia.
Japan Times
WORLD
Dec 11, 2014
Uzbek president asks Putin to help fight radical Islam in Central Asia
Uzbekistan urged Russia on Wednesday to help protect Central Asia against what it said would be a rising threat from militant Islam as U.S. forces draw down their numbers in Afghanistan.
Japan Times
WORLD
Dec 10, 2014
'Afghan Bruce Lee' high-kicking his way to Internet fame
From the ruins of a bombed-out palace above Kabul, a young Afghan man bearing a striking resemblance to kung fu legend Bruce Lee is high-kicking his way to Internet fame, aiming to show another side to his war-weary nation.

Longform

Rows of irises resemble a rice field at the Peter Walker-designed Toyota Municipal Museum of Art.
The 'outsiders' creating some of Japan's greenest spaces