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Afghanistan and Pakistan Exchange Fire as Peace Talks Begin
People inspect houses and vehicles destroyed during an airstrike, following a temporary ceasefire, amid the conflict between Afghanistan and Pakistan, in Spin Boldak district of Kandahar Province, Afghanistan, Oct. 16, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Stringer
Afghan and Pakistani troops briefly exchanged fire along their shared border on Thursday, both nations said, on the same day talks to find a lasting peace restarted in Istanbul.
Each nation blamed the other for starting the exchange of gunfire near Spin Boldak, an Afghan border town towards the south of their 2,600-km (1,600-mile) frontier.
There were no reports of casualties, and spokespeople for both sides said they remained committed to a ceasefire and continued dialogue in Istanbul.
Militaries from the South Asian neighbors previously clashed last month, with dozens killed in the worst such violence since the Taliban returned to power in Kabul in 2021.
Both sides signed a ceasefire in Doha on Oct. 19, but a second round of negotiations in Istanbul last week ended without a long-term deal, due to a disagreement over militant groups hostile to Pakistan operating inside Afghanistan.
“We hope that wisdom prevails and peace is restored in the region,” Pakistan‘s Defense Minister Khawaja Asif told reporters on Wednesday.
He said Islamabad was pursuing a “one-point agenda” of convincing Afghanistan to rein in militants attacking Pakistani forces across their shared border, allegedly with the Taliban’s knowledge.
Two government sources said the head of Pakistan‘s military intelligence wing, Asim Malik, was leading the Pakistani delegation.
The Afghan delegation is led by intelligence chief Abdul Haq Wasiq, Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid told state broadcaster RTA.
TALKS AIMED AT PREVENTING REPEAT OF VIOLENCE
Pakistan and the Taliban had for decades enjoyed warm ties, but relations have deteriorated sharply in recent years.
Islamabad accuses the Taliban of harboring the Pakistani Taliban, a separate militant group that has clashed repeatedly with the Pakistani military. Kabul denies this, saying it has no control over the group.
The October clashes began after Pakistani airstrikes earlier in the month on Kabul, the Afghan capital, among other locations, targeting the head of the Pakistani Taliban.
The Afghan Taliban administration responded with attacks on Pakistani military posts along the length of the border, which remains closed to trade.
While the ceasefire between the two nations’ militaries had held until Thursday’s exchanges, clashes have continued between the Pakistani military and the Pakistani Taliban throughout the period, with multiple deaths reported on both sides.
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Tucker’s Ideas About Jews Come from Darkest Corners of the Internet, Says Huckabee After Combative Interview
US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee looks on during the day he visits the Western Wall, Judaism’s holiest prayer site, in Jerusalem’s Old City, April 18, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
i24 News – In a combative interview with US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, right-wing firebrand Tucker Carlson made a host of contentious and often demonstrably false claims that quickly went viral online. Huckabee, who repeatedly challenged the former Fox News star during the interview, subsequently made a long post on X, identifying a pattern of bad-faith arguments, distortions and conspiracies in Carlson’s rhetorical style.
Huckabee pointed out his words were not accorded by Carlson the same degree of attention and curiosity the anchor evinced toward such unsavory characters as “the little Nazi sympathizer Nick Fuentes or the guy who thought Hitler was the good guy and Churchill the bad guy.”
“What I wasn’t anticipating was a lengthy series of questions where he seemed to be insinuating that the Jews of today aren’t really same people as the Jews of the Bible,” Huckabee wrote, adding that Tucker’s obsession with conspiracies regarding the provenance of Ashkenazi Jews obscured the fact that most Israeli Jews were refugees from the Arab and Muslim world.
The idea that Ashkenazi Jews are an Asiatic tribe who invented a false ancestry “gained traction in the 80’s and 90’s with David Duke and other Klansmen and neo-Nazis,” Huckabee wrote. “It has really caught fire in recent years on the Internet and social media, mostly from some of the most overt antisemites and Jew haters you can find.”
Carlson branded Israel “probably the most violent country on earth” and cited the false claim that Israel President Isaac Herzog had visited the infamous island of the late, disgraced sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
“The current president of Israel, whom I know you know, apparently was at ‘pedo island.’ That’s what it says,” Carlson said, citing a debunked claim made by The Times reporter Gabrielle Weiniger. “Still-living, high-level Israeli officials are directly implicated in Epstein’s life, if not his crimes, so I think you’d be following this.”
Another misleading claim made by Carlson was that there were more Christians in Qatar than in Israel.
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Pezeshkian Says Iran Will Not Bow to Pressure Amid US Nuclear Talks
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian attends the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit 2025, in Tianjin, China, September 1, 2025. Iran’s Presidential website/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Saturday that his country would not bow its head to pressure from world powers amid nuclear talks with the United States.
“World powers are lining up to force us to bow our heads… but we will not bow our heads despite all the problems that they are creating for us,” Pezeshkian said in a speech carried live by state TV.
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Italy’s RAI Apologizes after Latest Gaffe Targets Israeli Bobsleigh Team
Milano Cortina 2026 Olympics – Bobsleigh – 4-man Heat 1 – Cortina Sliding Centre, Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy – February 21, 2026. Adam Edelman of Israel, Menachem Chen of Israel, Uri Zisman of Israel, Omer Katz of Israel in action during Heat 1. Photo: REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha
Italy’s state broadcaster RAI was forced to apologize to the Jewish community on Saturday after an off‑air remark advising its producers to “avoid” the Israeli crew was broadcast before coverage of the Four-Man bobsleigh event at the Winter Olympics.
The head of RAI’s sports division had already resigned earlier in the week after his error-ridden commentary at the Milano Cortina 2026 opening ceremony two weeks ago triggered a revolt among its journalists.
On Saturday, viewers heard “Let’s avoid crew number 21, which is the Israeli one” and then “no, because …” before the sound was cut off.
RAI CEO Giampaolo Rossi said the incident represented a “serious” breach of the principles of impartiality, respect and inclusion that should guide the public broadcaster.
He added that RAI had opened an internal inquiry to swiftly determine any responsibility and any potential disciplinary procedures.
In a separate statement RAI’s board of directors condemned the remark as “unacceptable.”
The board apologized to the Jewish community, the athletes involved and all viewers who felt offended.
RAI is the country’s largest media organization and operates national television, radio and digital news services.
The union representing RAI journalists, Usigrai, had said Paolo Petrecca’s opening ceremony commentary had dealt “a serious blow” to the company’s credibility.
His missteps included misidentifying venues and public figures, and making comments about national teams that were widely criticized.