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ISLAMABAD � The Spy chiefs of Pakistan and Afghanistan have held official talks in Kabul on bilateral security and counterterrorism cooperation.

Director General of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence, ISI, Lt. General Naveed Mukhtar, traveled to the Afghan capital Tuesday in a bid to ease tensions between security establishments of the two countries, Pakistani and Afghan security sources confirmed to VOA.

There were no immediate details available from the meeting General Mukhtar held with his Afghan counterpart, Masoom Stanekzai, who heads the National Directorate of Security, or NDS.

The ISI chief's visit came as Afghanistan and Pakistan consistently accused each other's intelligence agencies of sheltering and supporting anti-state militants, who plot deadly terrorist attacks in both the countries.

General Mukhtar is also scheduled to meet with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani. The two intelligence agencies had signed an initial agreement of cooperation shortly after Ghani assumed office in 2014 to help address mutual concerns, but news of the deal was leaked to Afghan media prematurely, preventing the cooperation from taking root, according to Pakistani officials.

The Taliban has announced its so-called spring offensive in Afghanistan. The Afghan government claims sanctuaries on Pakistani soil have enabled the insurgents to prolong the conflict in the country.

Afghan Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah reiterated Monday the Islamist insurgency announced and planned its spring offensive in a neighboring country, though he did not name Pakistan

Pakistani authorities reject the charges and say they are making all possible efforts to strengthen security along a 2,600 kilometer border with Afghanistan to prevent terrorist infiltration in both directions.

On Tuesday, the Pakistan military said it repelled an attack on two security outposts by militants from across the border in Afghanistan. It said three assailants were killed and several were wounded while others were forced to retreat.

The militant assault took place in Pakistan's semi-autonomous tribal district of South Waziristan.

A high-powered Pakistani parliamentary delegation also visited Afghanistan this week for talks with counterparts and the Afghan leadership. Ayaz Sadiq, speaker of the National Assembly, the lower house of parliament, led the 15-member delegation to Kabul, which returned to Islamabad on Monday.

Sadiq described the meetings as highly successful and productive.

On Tuesday, the speaker briefed Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif about the visit, officials said.

The prime minister stated that exchanges of parliamentary delegations between the two countries would further strengthen bilateral relations and will go a long way in realizing the shared objective of regional peace and stability, an official statement quoted Sharif as saying.

Source: Voice of America

JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia, May 1, 2017/PRNewswire/ — Aiming to Connect Education to Labour Market Requirements Intensive preparations are under way for the 42nd Annual Meeting of the Islamic Development Bank Group (IsDB) in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, to be held on May 14-18, 2017, under the theme, ‘Youth Economic Empowerment’, and attended by more than 2000 […]

NEW DELHI �

The Indian army has accused Pakistani forces of killing two of its soldiers and mutilating their bodies along the border in the disputed Kashmir region.

India has vowed retribution for the incident that will deepen tensions between the South Asian rivals, whose relations have hit a low point in recent months.

The army said the soldiers were killed on patrol when Pakistani forces fired rockets and mortars at two Indian posts in the Krishna Ghati sector Monday.

"In an unsoldierly act" the bodies of two soldiers were mutilated, an army statement said. The army said that "such despicable act of Pakistan Army will be appropriately responded."

The Pakistani army dismissed the Indian army's accusations of mutilating the soldiers' bodies, calling them "false" and said it did not commit any cease-fire violation.

This is not the first time that the Indian army has accused Pakistani soldiers of mutilating the body of a soldier; it leveled a similar charge last November.

Cross-border gunfire leading to the deaths of soldiers and civilians on both sides has intensified along the Kashmir border since last September, when relations plummeted following an attack on an Indian army camp that killed 17 soldiers. Both sides blame each other for the firing.

It is not just the heavily militarized border dividing Kashmir between the two countries that is volatile. Violence has also spiked in Indian Kashmir, where New Delhi is grappling with escalating street protests against Indian rule and militant attacks.

On Monday, authorities in the Kashmiri capital, Srinagar, said five policemen and two bank officials were killed when militants ambushed a bank van in Kulgam district and made away with bundles of cash.

Last week, three Indian soldiers were killed in an attack by militants on an army camp in Kashmir.

While India points the finger at Pakistan-based Islamic terror groups for fomenting violence in Kashmir, Islamabad strongly denies it.

On Monday, after holding talks with visiting Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said all countries need to work as one to "disrupt the terrorist networks and their financing and put a stop to cross-border movement of terrorists."

Modi added, "They also need to stand and act against those that conceive and create, support and sustain, shelter and spread these instruments and ideologies of violence."

Ahead of his visit, the Turkish president told a television news channel that both countries should engage in a multilateral dialogue to resolve their dispute over Kashmir.

An Indian foreign ministry spokesman said that New Delhi had told Erdogan that "the issue of Kashmir is essentially an issue of terrorism."

Peace talks between the two countries have remained stalled as New Delhi says it cannot hold talks until terrorism ends, while Islamabad has stressed the need for negotiations to resolve the decades-old dispute over the Himalayan region.

Source: Voice of America

Chief Minister Punjab Shahbaz Sharif says new dams are being constructed to overcome energy crisis in the country.In a statement in Lahore on Sunday, he said people will never forgive the elements who want to create hurdles in the way of development an...

Amman (IINA) � The three-day conference on Islam and contemporary challenges in the shadows of the Amman Message concluded its activities in Jordan's capital Amman on Saturday.

The conference discussed the challenges of terrorism, contemporary Muslim women's issues, globalization and Islamophobia, in addition to the problems of poverty and unemployment, and the achievement of comprehensive development, integration and Islamic solidarity in the face of occupation and persecution.

Participants in the conference recommended the visit of Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa Mosque to support the Jerusalemites and their steadfastness. They also recommended that the issue of Palestine and Jerusalem to be considered as the core issue of Muslim Ummah.

They further lauded the role of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in taking care of holy sites in Jerusalem and Palestine, especially Al-Aqsa Mosque.

The final communique of the conference called for the adoption of an Islamic discourse that adheres to the original and legitimate rules and keeps pace with the methods and means adopted to spread moderation, mercy and tolerance in dealing with Muslims and non-Muslims.

It also called for clarifying the position, based on the essence of Islam and its Sharia, in rejection of hyperbolism, extremism and terrorism. This requires efforts to be made by Muslim scholars, with the view to correcting concepts and guiding the discourse to create generations through the moderation approach and purpose of mercy.

The communique also called for achieving the purposes of the Shariah in preserving the soul, mind, offspring and money for all people, as well as commitment to the Qur'anic method in the dawa work, pursuant to Allah's saying: "Call unto the way of thy Lord with wisdom and fair exhortation."

The final communique underlined the need to preserve the family in all its components, especially the women whose rights should remain undiminished, and that they should have equal access to education and employment opportunities.

The communique pointed out that the distorted image of Muslims, which spread in the West and the world led to the emergence what is known as "Islamophobia". It stressed that it is the duty of Muslims to highlight the best image of Islam through the use of all means of communication available.

It maintained the importance of achieving comprehensive development in the infrastructures, services and investments to develop economic production sectors, and to address poverty, destitution and unemployment, so as to realize the citizen's reasons for a decent living.

The conference commended the efforts of the international Islamic universities in Pakistan, Malaysia and Africa, which spread the principles of true Islam, following the approach of moderation, steadfastness and tolerance.

The participants emphasized in their recommendations on the need to protect the young people through education and technical training, and inculcating moral values in them. They added that the youth should be provided with the inputs of competencies in the labor market to make them productive power that contributes to the development and renaissance.

They called on the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the Arab League to create Islamic and Arab markets to make way for each country to benefit from the successful experiences of others and to promote intra-regional trade in order to achieve comprehensive development.

The participants underscored the need to develop the dawa methods and means in line with sustained technical progress, using social networks and the Internet in a positive manner, and stopping the deviant exploitation of these means to transfer extremist propaganda and ideologies.

Thirty-five research papers and worksheets on the issues of terrorism, contemporary women's issues, globalization Islamophobia, comprehensive development and addressing poverty and unemployment were presented during the conference sessions.

The research papers also tackled the challenge of occupation and oppression that leaves threats and deadly effects on Muslims and non-Muslims, particularly the Zionist occupation and its racial crimes and acts of Judaization of the holy sites, aimed at Judaizing the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Source: International Islamic News Agency

Five people were killed and several injured when six vehicles collided with each other near Havelian Mor in Abbottabad on Saturday morning.The injured have been shifted to hospital.Source: Radio Pakistan

So-called Islamic State has wreaked havoc in eastern Afghanistan since 2015, mostly through its loose affiliates � attacking government installations and villages, killing and abducting hundreds of people, and keeping schools shuttered and replacing them with IS religious seminaries. It also claimed responsibility for several deadly attacks in the country's capital, Kabul.

Here is a rundown in a question-and-answer format about how IS operates in Afghanistan:

When did IS emerge in Afghanistan?

Branching out from Iraq and Syria � and fueled by a growing militancy in Central Asia � IS launched its operations in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region two years ago, naming it IS's Khorasan province (IS-K) to cover Afghanistan, Pakistan, and other nearby lands. The name refers to a centuries-old description of Afghanistan and surrounding areas of Central Asia and Persia.

IS-K's founder, Hafiz Saeed Khan, a former Pakistani Taliban commander, appeared in a video in January 2015, along with 10 militant commanders � each representing a sub-region within the Afghan-Pak region � pledging allegiance to IS.

Who are IS-K Members?

According to U.S. and Afghan officials, most IS-K fighters are former members of the Pakistani Taliban group (TTP), many of whom belong to the Orokzai tribe in Pakistan. A number of Central Asian militants in Afghanistan, who previously were associated with al-Qaida and Taliban, joined the IS cause. Some Afghan militants also have joined IS-K ranks for financial gains.

Where is IS-K based and what territory has it captured in Afghanistan?

Based in southern parts of eastern Nangarhar province, IS-K has taken root in mountainous areas of Afghanistan and Pakistan. Last year it had a presence in at least 12 Nangarhar districts. The group also expanded to neighboring Kunar province, but has had fewer activities there.

Is IS-K expanding to other parts of Afghanistan?

IS-K has been attempting to expand to other parts of the country. Central Asian fighters who have pledged allegiance to IS have a presence in southern Zabul province.

The group also claims to have a presence in northern Jouzjan and Faryab provinces, where some militants who were previously associated with the Taliban said they have have joined IS-K. The son of a fabled slain Uzbek militant commander, Tahir Yuldash � co-founder and former leader of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) � reportedly has been luring Uzbek men in northern provinces to join the group, according to Afghan officials.

What is the estimated number of IS-K members?

According to the U.S.-led Resolute Mission in Afghanistan, there were about 3,000 IS-K members in Afghanistan last year. The number, however, has been reduced to a few hundred fighters this year.

"In 2016, we believed that year began with about 3,000 or so ISIS-K members in about 12 districts in southern Nangarhar," U.S. Navy Capt. Bill Salvin, spokesperson for Resolute Support in Kabul told VOA last month. "Right now, we believe there are about 600 ISIS-K members in two or three districts in southern Nangarhar."

How are U.S.-Afghan forces fighting IS-K?

American and Afghan forces conduct counterterrorism operations together. U.S. forces pursue a two-way approach to combating IS-K.

"The first is the unilateral U.S. counterterrorism mission called Operation Freedom, and that is where we will conduct the operations against terrorist groups like ISIS-K on our own," Salvin said. "The other way that we are attacking ISIS-K is in partnered operations with the Afghan special forces."

Is IS-K losing in Afghanistan?

U.S.-led NATO officials and members of the Afghan government say their security operations in recent months have reduced IS-K's strength from several thousand to now under 1,000 fighters, and their territorial control from more than 10 districts to fewer than five.

Pentagon officials said Friday they suspected the Islamic State leader in Afghanistan, Abdul Haseeb, was killed in a three-hour firefight in the Mohmand Valley, in the Achin district of eastern Nangarhar province.

Officials said another 35 IS fighters also had been killed.

Haseeb is not the only IS commander to have been killed in U.S.-Afghan security operations in the region. Several top IS-K commanders recently have been killed in counterterrorism airstrikes, including its leader Saeed Khan, who was killed in a U.S. drone strike in July 2016.

But despite the battlefield losses, IS-K has "shown an ability to conduct attacks in Kabul and elsewhere in the country," General John Nicholson, the U.S. military commander in Afghanistan, recently told the Senate Armed Services Committee.

U.S. and Afghan forces say they are determined to defeat the extremist group in the country this year.

"Our goal in 2017 is to defeat ISIS-K in Afghanistan," Salvin said.

The U.S. Air Force this month dropped "the mother of all bombs" on IS-K's stronghold in Nangarhar's Achin district, killing at least 95 IS fighters, mostly foreign fighters.

Source: Voice of America