RIAZAT BUTT

An Afghan refugee girl peers through a torn curtain at the entrance of her home at Kababayan Refugee Camp in Peshawar, Pakistan, Tuesday, April 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Muhammad Sajjad)
Pakistan wants to deport millions of Afghans. In one region, they have no plans to go
Pakistan wants to expel more than 3 million Afghans this year as part of a crackdown on foreigners it says are in the country illegally. A third live in the northwest province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, but there is little urgency among them to leave.
 
Afghan refugees take rest at a transit station setup to facilitate Afghan refugees' deportations, outskirt of Chaman, a town on the Pakistan and Afghanistan border, Tuesday, April 8, 2025. (AP Photo)
US restores urgent food aid, except in Afghanistan and Yemen, two of the world’s poorest countries
U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration has reversed cuts in emergency food aid to several nations but maintained them in Afghanistan and Yemen, two of the world’s poorest countries.
 
An injured passenger, rescued by security forces from a passenger train attacked by insurgents, is carried on a stretcher after arriving on a special train for the wounded and survivors, organized by the army, at a railway station in Much, in Pakistan's southwestern Balochistan province, on March 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed, File)
Pakistan saw the highest number of militant attacks during Ramadan for a decade
A think tank says Pakistan saw the highest number of militant attacks during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan in a decade.
 
Afghan refugees settle in a camp near the Torkham Pakistan-Afghanistan border, in Torkham, Afghanistan, Nov. 3, 2023. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi, File)
Pakistan plans to expel 3 million Afghans from the country this year
Pakistan says it plans to expel 3 million Afghans this year. A deadline for them to voluntarily leave the capital and surrounding areas expired on Monday.
 
Pakistani producer Shah Hussain Syed, second left, chats with Kausar Bibi, center, and Robina Naz, right, during the shooting of a scene of tv drama serial "Aadi Si Bewai' or 'Half Infidelity', in Islamabad, Pakistan, Tuesday, Oct. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)
In tense relations with India, Pakistani TV dramas break down barriers that diplomacy often cannot
Tens of millions of Pakistanis tune into homegrown soap operas every night, but they are also a hit in India.
 
A view of newly developing area, bottom, and downtown area seen from a hilltop in the coastal city of Gwadar, in the southwest Pakistani province of Balochistan, Jan. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)
No passengers, no planes, no benefits. Pakistan’s newest airport is a bit of a mystery
Pakistan’s newest and most expensive airport is a bit of a mystery, with no passengers and no planes. Financed by China to the tune of $240 million, it’s anyone’s guess when New Gwadar International Airport will open for business.
 
The city of Gwadar, Pakistan, is seen from a hilltop, Monday, Jan. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)
The sea was once a blessing for the Pakistani city of Gwadar. But it’s become a curse
There was a time when few people in the coastal Pakistani city of Gwadar understood what climate change was. After a decade of extreme weather, many more do.
 
A man, who was injured in a bomb explosion at railway station, walks with help of his relatives after receiving initial treatment at a hospital, in Quetta, southwestern Pakistan, Saturday, Nov. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Arshad Butt)
Baloch separatists becoming as big a national security threat as Pakistani Taliban, says think tank
A Pakistani think tank says a Baloch separatist group is becoming as big a national security threat as the Pakistani Taliban. Last month, the Baloch Liberation Army killed dozens of people in the restive southwest Pakistani province of Balochistan.
 
A general view of a luxury house is seen in the city of Kabul, Afghanistan, Sept. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Siddiqullah Alizai)
Thanks to peace, two unexpected words are echoing across Afghanistan’s capital: Luxury housing
Peace is driving up property prices in Kabul and fueling the luxury market. Afghans who spent years overseas are returning home, keen to take advantage of the country’s improved security after decades of war.
 
Supporters of imprisoned former premier Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party move towards D-Chowk square close to Red Zone, which is an area that houses key government buildings, during their rally demanding Khan's release, in Islamabad, Pakistan, Tuesday, Nov. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/W.K. Yousufzai)
A violent showdown in Pakistan’s capital pits the government against Imran Khan supporters
Thousands of people are in the heart of Pakistan’s capital to demand the release of imprisoned former premier Imran Khan. He has been behind bars since August 2023 on charges that he and his supporters say are politically motivated.
 
Supporters of imprisoned former premier Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, throw stones towards police officers during clashes, in Islamabad, Pakistan, Tuesday, Nov. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/W.K. Yousufzai)
Pakistani authorities start clearing Imran Khan supporters from the capital after deadly clashes
Pakistani security forces are clearing the capital of Imran Khan supporters who gathered in their thousands to demand his release from prison.
 
Police officers detain a supporter of imprisoned former premier Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, which supporters gather for a rally demanding Khan's release, in Lahore, Pakistan, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/K.M. Chaudary)
Pakistani police arrest thousands of Imran Khan supporters as capital under lockdown ahead of rally
A Pakistani security officer says police have arrested thousands of Imran Khan supporters ahead of a rally in Islamabad to demand the ex-premier’s release from prison. Khan has been behind bars for more than a year.
 
An army vehicle moves past a welcoming billboard with portraits of China's Premier Li Qiang, center, Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and President Asif Ali Zardari, displayed along a road leading to the venue of the upcoming Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Islamabad, Pakistan, Sunday, Oct. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)
Pakistan hosts a major security meeting this week as it struggles against rising insurgent violence
Pakistan is hosting a major security meeting this week, with senior leaders from longtime ally China and archrival India among those attending.
 
FILE - Shabana Maani, gives a polio vaccination to a child in the old part of Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday, March 29, 2021. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul, File)
The Taliban have suspended polio vaccination campaigns in Afghanistan, the UN says
The U.N. says the Taliban have suspended polio vaccination campaigns in Afghanistan. It’s a devastating setback for polio eradication.
 
Peacocks roam on the lawn of historical building "Mohatta Palace," which was built in 1920s and has since been turned into a museum, in Karachi, Pakistan, Friday, May 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Fareed Khan)
Traces of this Pakistani megacity’s past are vanishing, but one flamboyant pink palace endures
Stained glass windows, a sweeping staircase and embellished interiors make Mohatta Palace a gem in Karachi, a Pakistani megacity of 20 million people.
 
This is a locator map for Afghanistan with its capital, Kabul. (AP Photo)
A second Afghan embassy says it will close after the Taliban withdrew recognition
Afghanistan’s Norway embassy is closing this week. The move comes months after the Taliban said they no longer recognize diplomatic missions set up by the former, Western-backed government, including the one in Norway.
 
People look at a burnt vehicle which was torched by gunmen after they killed passengers at a highway in Musakhail, a district in Baluchistan province in restive southwestern Pakistan, Monday, Aug. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Rahmat Khan)
What’s behind the bloodiest recent attacks in Pakistan’s Baluchistan province?
Multiple attacks in Pakistan’s restive southwest have killed at least 38 people, the highest death toll in a 24-hour period blamed on separatists in Baluchistan province in recent years.
 
FILE - Afghan school girls attend their classroom on the first day of the new school year, in Kabul, Saturday, March 25, 2023. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi, File)
Taliban have deliberately deprived 1.4 million Afghan girls of schooling through bans, says UNESCO
The Taliban have deliberately deprived at least 1.4 million Afghan girls of schooling through bans. That’s according to new data released Thursday by UNESCO.
 
Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Taliban-appointed deputy prime minister for economic affairs, center, inspects the honor guards during a military parade to mark the third anniversary of the withdrawal of U.S.-led troops from Afghanistan, in Bagram Air Base in the Parwan Province of Afghanistan, Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Siddiqullah Alizai)
The Taliban are celebrating 3 years in power, but they’re not talking about Afghans
The Taliban are celebrating their third year as rulers of Afghanistan at a former U.S. air base. But they’re not talking about Afghans.
 
FILE - Afghan women wait to receive food rations distributed by a humanitarian aid group, in Kabul, Afghanistan, May 23, 2023. The Taliban Virtue and Vice Ministry had on May 7, 2022 ,said women in public must wear all-encompassing robes and cover their faces except for their eyes. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi, File)
A timeline of events in Afghanistan in the 3 years since the Taliban’s takeover
The Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan in August 2021 as U.S and NATO forces withdrew from the country after more than two decades of war. Three years have now passed.
 
FILE - Taliban fighters take control of the Afghan presidential palace after Afghan President Ashraf Ghani fled the country, in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Aug. 15, 2021. (AP Photo/Zabi Karimi, File)
The Taliban have ruled Afghanistan for 3 years. Here are 5 things to know
It’s been three years since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan. They have transitioned from insurgency to authority, imposed their interpretation of Islamic law and sought to reinforce their claim to legitimacy.
 
FILE - Taliban fighters celebrate one year since they seized the Afghan capital, Kabul, in front of the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday, Aug. 15, 2022. The Taliban on Tuesday, July 30, 2024, disavowed many Afghan diplomatic missions overseas, saying it will not honor passports, visas and other documents issued by diplomats associated with Afghanistan's former Western-backed administration. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi, File)
The Taliban say they no longer recognize Afghan diplomatic missions set up by the former government
The Taliban say they no longer recognize Afghanistan’s diplomatic missions set up by the former, Western-backed government and that they will not honor passports, visas and other documents issued by diplomats associated with the previous administration.
 
Afghan men wait to receive their passports from the main post office in the city of Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday, July 3, 2024. In parts of Afghanistan where there are no street names or house numbers, utility companies and their customers have adopted a creative approach for connecting. They use mosques as drop points for bills and cash, a "pay and pray" system. (AP Photo/Siddiqullah Alizai)
Afghanistan has been through everything. Now it wants to dust off its postal service and modernize
In parts of Afghanistan where there are no street names or house numbers, utility companies and their customers have adopted a creative approach for connecting. They use mosques as drop points for bills and cash, a “pay and pray” system.
 
An Afghan woman tailor works with a sewing machine in the Afghan Women Business Hub in Kabul, Afghanistan, Tuesday, July 2, 2024. Half of Afghanistan's population now finds itself locked out of the freedom to work at a time when the country's economy is worse than ever, with few jobs available to women in the country. (AP Photo/Siddiqullah Alizai)
An Afghan woman wanted to be a doctor. Now she makes pickles as the Taliban restricts women’s roles
Frozan Ahmadzai is one of 200,000 Afghan women who have the Taliban’s permission to work. She should have graduated from university this year in pursuit of her dream of becoming a doctor, but the Taliban have barred women from higher education and excluded them from many jobs.
 
Afghans read books in a specialized religious bookstore in Kabul, Afghanistan, Tuesday, April 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Siddiqullah Alizai)
Phones, Islamic books and currency exchange. Some businesses are making money out of Taliban rule
The Taliban takeover three years ago has sent Afghanistan’s economy into a tailspin. Billions in international funds were frozen, and tens of thousands of highly skilled Afghans fled the country and took their money with them.
 
Afghans work in the garden of the renovated Darul Aman Palace in Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday, April 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Siddiqullah Alizai)
The Taliban are working to woo tourists to Afghanistan
A Taliban-run tourism and hotel management institute has opened its doors to students. What they lack in hospitality experience, they make up for in their enthusiasm to promote a positive side of Afghanistan. The Taliban are happy to help.
 
An 18-year-old Afghan boy, who asked not to use his name and not to show his face fearing his identity could lead to his capture again, pose for photograph during an interview with The Associated Press, in Karachi, Pakistan, Friday, Jan. 26, 2024. Born and raised in Pakistan to parents who fled neighboring Afghanistan half a century ago, an 18-year-old found himself at the mercy of police in Karachi who took his cash, phone and motorbike, and sent him to a deportation center. (AP Photo/Fareed Khan)
Millions of Afghans made Pakistan home to escape war. Now many are hiding to escape deportation
For more than 1 million Afghans who fled war and poverty to Pakistan, these are uncertain times. Since Pakistan announced a crackdown on migrants last year, some 600,000 have been deported and at least a million remain in Pakistan in hiding.
 
Hindu devotees get off from a bus and walk toward a mud volcano, to start Hindu pilgrims religious rituals for an annual festival in an ancient cave temple of Hinglaj Mata in Hinglaj in Lasbela district in the Pakistan's southwestern Baluchistan province, Friday, April 26, 2024. More than 100,000 Hindus are expected to climb mud volcanoes and steep rocks in southwestern Pakistan as part of a three-day pilgrimage to one of the faith's holiest sites. (AP Photo/Junaid Ahmed)
A Hindu festival in southwestern Pakistan brings a mountainous region to life
More than 100,000 Hindus are expected to climb mud volcanoes and steep rocks in southwestern Pakistan as part of a three-day pilgrimage to one of the faith’s holiest sites.
 
FILE - Afghan Taliban's Acting Minister of Interior Sirajuddin Haqqani speaks during a ceremony in Kabul,, Afghanistan, May 11, 2023. Messages by two influential Taliban leaders in Afghanistan this week showed tensions between hardliners and more moderate elements who want to scrap harsher policies and attract more outside support, experts said Thursday, April 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi, file)
Afghanistan’s Taliban leaders issued different messages for Eid. Experts say that shows tensions
Experts say messages by two influential Taliban leaders in Afghanistan this week showed tensions between hardliners and more moderate elements who want to scrap harsher policies and attract more outside support.
 
In this photo released by Prime Minister Office, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, left, meets with newly election Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari, in Islamabad, Pakistan, Saturday, March 9, 2023. Pakistan's lawmakers have chosen Zardari as the country's new president. It's his second time in the job. Zardari is the widower of assassinated former Premier Benazir Bhutto and the father of former Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, (Prime Minister Office via AP)
Pakistan’s lawmakers pick Asif Ali Zardari as the country’s president for a second time
Pakistan’s lawmakers have chosen Asif Ali Zardari as the country’s new president. It’s his second time in the job. Zardari is the widower of assassinated former Premier Benazir Bhutto and the father of former Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari.
 
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