The Caribbean admitted to seven charges, including those related to franchise-based leagues in Sri Lanka, UAE and the West Indies, the ICC said
sports1 hour ago
The leader of the Afghan opposition group resisting Taliban forces in the Panjshir valley north of Kabul said on Sunday he welcomed proposals from religious scholars for a negotiated settlement to end the fighting.
Ahmad Massoud, head of the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan (NRFA), made the announcement on the group’s Facebook page. Earlier, Taliban forces said they had fought their way into the provincial capital of Panjshir after securing the surrounding districts.
The Taliban took control of the rest of Afghanistan three weeks ago, taking power in Kabul on August 15 after the Western-backed government collapsed and President Ashraf Ghani fled the country.
“The NRF in principle agree to solve the current problems and put an immediate end to the fighting and continue negotiations,” Massoud said in the Facebook post.
“To reach a lasting peace, the NRF is ready to stop fighting on condition that Taliban also stop their attacks and military movements on Panjshir and Andarab,” he said, referring to a district in the neighbouring province of Baghlan.
A large gathering of all sides with the Ulema council of religious scholars could then be held, he said.
Earlier, Afghan media outlets reported that religious scholars had called on the Taliban to accept a negotiated settlement to end the fighting in Panjshir.
There was no immediate response from the Taliban.
Massoud, who leads a force made up of remnants of regular Afghan army and special forces units as well as local militia fighters, called for a negotiated settlement with the Taliban before the fighting broke out around a week ago.
Several attempts at talks were held but they eventually broke down, with each side blaming the other for their failure.
Taliban spokesman Bilal Karimi said earlier on Sunday that their forces had fought their way into the provincial capital Bazarak and had captured large quantities of weapons and ammunition.
Panjshir, a rugged valley in the mountains north of Kabul that is still littered with the wreckage of Soviet tanks destroyed during the long war in the 1980s to oust the Soviet presence, has proved very difficult to overcome in the past.
Under Massoud’s late father, Ahmad Shah Massoud, the region long resisted control by both the invading Soviet army and by the Taliban government that previously ruled from 1996 to 2001.
But that effort was helped by supply routes leading north to the border, which were closed off by the Taliban’s sweeping victory last month.
The Panjshir fighting has been the most prominent example of resistance to the Taliban. But small individual protests for women’s rights or in defence of the green, red and black tricolour flag of Afghanistan have also been held in different cities.
The Caribbean admitted to seven charges, including those related to franchise-based leagues in Sri Lanka, UAE and the West Indies, the ICC said
sports1 hour ago
The CST-100 Starliner test mission will ferry two Nasa astronauts to the International Space Station
space1 hour ago
According to Palestinian prisoner associations, the health worker had been detained by Israeli forces while temporarily working at Al-Awada Hospital
mena1 hour ago
Arfan Bhatti, a 46-year-old Islamist who has lived and is well-known in Norway, is suspected of having planned the attack
world1 hour ago
Alvarez, who will be chasing the 61st victory of his dazzling career, says he has everything he needs to win
sports1 hour ago
The World No 1s quest for a record-breaking eighth world snooker title was shattered by Stuart Bingham in the quarter-finals at Sheffield's Crucible Theatre this week
sports1 hour ago
Substantial investments in major airports will drive tourism and GDP growth
business technology review2 hours ago
The city hosts hundreds of entertainment events yearly, attended by millions of people
uae2 hours ago