Asia

A US drone strike in Afghanistan last month killed 10 civilians – including seven children – and not Daesh extremists as first claimed, the Pentagon admitted on Friday.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and his Tajik counterpart Emomali Rahmon have underlined the need to enhance relations and cooperation between the two countries.

Human rights groups accuse the European Union of failing to do enough to assist Afghans living in fear of Taliban rule.

Iran, Russia, China and Pakistan have in a joint statement underlined the necessity of respect for the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Afghanistan.

The hasty withdrawal by US and NATO-allied troops from Afghanistan looked more like an escape, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday.

China's President Xi Jinping said on Friday that external forces should never be allowed to interfere in the internal affairs of countries under any pretext.

Dutch Foreign Minister Sigrid Kaag resigned on Thursday after she met fierce criticism in parliament over the handling of the Afghan crisis.

Moscow supports the start of Iran's Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) membership process, Russian President Vladimir Putin said, stating Tehran's accession will contribute to enhancing the organization's international authority.

China has slammed a new US military alliance with Australia and Britain, under which Canberra will acquire nuclear submarine technology, as an "extremely irresponsible" threat to regional stability.

The foreign ministers of Russia, Iran, China and Pakistan held a four-way meeting on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) summit to particularly reaffirm the importance of achieving national reconciliation in Afghanistan, Moscow said on Thursday.

A thorough investigation into the deaths of innocent Afghan civilians in a US drone strike in Kabul must be conducted, and Washington should be held accountable for its mistake, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian says.

Judges at the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Wednesday authorized an investigation into possible crimes against humanity conducted during Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s violent “war on drugs”. They stated alleged extrajudicial killings represented a “widespread and systematic attack” against civilians.

Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi has arrived in Tajikistan’s capital Dushanbe to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organization’s summit and meet with the leaders of member states of the body.

Taliban's chief of staff Qari Fasihuddin says the militant group is considering the creation of a regular army in Afghanistan in the near future.

Member states of the UN Security Council have gathered behind closed doors for an emergency meeting about North Korea’s latest ballistic missile test, which they consider a “major threat”, according to France’s ambassador to the UN, Nicolas de Riviere.

The US, UK and Australia are setting up a trilateral security partnership aimed at confronting China, which will include helping Australia to build nuclear-powered submarines.

Several GOP senators urged US President Joe Biden to designate the Taliban as a terrorist group, calling it “a significant threat to the United States".

Iran’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations Zahra Ershadi has called for an immediate end to looting of Syria's oil and wealth.

South Korea says it successfully test-fired a submarine-launched ballistic missile on Wednesday. This comes after Seoul claimed that North Korea has fired two ballistic missiles into the Sea of Japan.

U.S. President Joe Biden denied on Tuesday a media report that his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, last week turned down an offer from the American leader for a face-to-face meeting.

China’s ambassador to the UK, Zheng Zeguang, has been barred from attending a reception at Westminster in retaliation over quote Beijing imposing sanctions on British MPs.

Acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi has criticised the United States for its actions towards the new Taliban government and for severing economic assistance.

South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) announced on Wednesday that the neighboring North had fired what is believed to be two ballistic missiles towards the exclusive economic zone of Japan.

The European Union has no choice but to talk to the Taliban government in Afghanistan and Brussels will try to coordinate with member governments to organise diplomatic presence in Kabul, the EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell says.

UN chief Antonio Guterres on Monday urged the world community to dig deep and provide desperately needed aid to Afghans, and to support women and others whose rights appear threatened by the Taliban.