Calm Returns to Afghanistan-Pakistan Border After Taliban Warns TTP to Halt Attacks

A relative calm has set in along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border after months of heavy violence from both sides. Pakistan contends that the Taliban regime shelters Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan militants who carry out attacks inside Pakistan. The respite follows the most recent round of internationally mediated talks, held in April and led by China.

Pakistan’s Express Tribune reported that Taliban Supreme Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada warned the TTP that the Taliban will cut off support if the group does not stop its attacks in Pakistan. Pakistani officials have long argued that the Taliban are unwilling to accept verification mechanisms that would prove they are curbing the TTP.

Islamabad is expected to view the reported warning as an empty gesture.

Last week Afghanistan signed a military cooperation agreement with Russia. Russia’s special envoy for Afghanistan said the deal mainly concerns repairs to Russian-made equipment. Pakistan is concerned that the Taliban could use the accord to strengthen their capacity for future conflicts.

The Taliban have few incentives to meet Pakistan’s core demand. S. military intervention.

The Taliban also face risks of internal rebellions or TTP members joining the Islamic State-Khorasan if they crack down. Over the weekend Bangladesh recorded more than 1,300 new measles cases, bringing the total to nearly 71,000 since the outbreak began in March. There have been 585 deaths.

Four out of five cases have been among children under five years old. Public health experts have faulted the interim government that led Bangladesh from August 2024 until February for failing to maintain a robust vaccination campaign. The new government led by Prime Minister Tarique Rahman launched a campaign in April to vaccinate 20 million children, but only the first of two required doses has been administered so far.

The EU’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, visited Islamabad on Monday for the eighth round of the EU-Pakistan Strategic Dialogue. Kallas praised Pakistan for its role as an Iran mediator. She also said the EU receives more Pakistani exports than the United States and China combined.

Kallas stated that for Pakistan to continue receiving preferential access to EU markets, it will need to demonstrate tangible progress on good governance, environmental protection, and labor and human rights. The satirical Cockroach Janta Party plans to hold its first offline protest.

Its de facto leader, Abhijeet Dipke, a recent Boston University graduate, announced a demonstration calling for the resignation of India’s education minister.

The Cockroach Janta Party said Dipke will return to India on Saturday. Earlier this year three flamingos died in Mannar, a wetlands region of northern Sri Lanka, after striking power lines. Irrigation development in the 1980s and 1990s caused ecological changes, including decreases in freshwater salinity, that drove flamingos to flee the area.

In 2022 researchers began noticing that photographers using drones to capture flamingos flocking to Mannar were scaring the birds away.