South Asia

De facto authorities in Afghanistan have called on the United States to reconsider a plan to transfer billions of Afghan financial assets to a Swiss bank and disburse them outside the country’s central bank. The released funds will be used to stabilize the hobbled Afghan economy and mitigate the country’s …

Chinese President Xi Jinping is visiting Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, two of the most populous countries in Central Asia, on a trip that some experts say is aimed at highlighting the success of China’s Belt and Road Initiative. It is Xi’s first foreign trip since the World Health Organization declared the …

A court in India’s northern holy city of Varanasi has agreed to hear a petition from Hindus who want to conduct regular prayers at a centuries-old mosque, rejecting a Muslim plea to have the petition dismissed.  A group of five Hindu women had filed the suit earlier this year, seeking …

The United States has voiced alarm over restrictions on the media in Pakistan, citing the silencing of a television network supportive of former Prime Minister Imran Khan. “We continue to be concerned by significant restrictions on media outlets and civil society in Pakistan,” State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters …

The United States said Wednesday it is setting up fund in Switzerland to manage $3.5 billion of Afghan reserves to be used to help stabilize Afghanistan’s economy. A board of trustees will manage the Afghan Fund. The U.S. Treasury said the fund will “protect, preserve and make targeted disbursements” of …

Taliban security forces in Afghanistan have launched a large-scale “clearance operation” against insurgent forces in parts of the turbulent northern Panjshir province, killing dozens of them and capturing many more. Chief Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told VOA Wednesday that the security action was carried out in three districts of the …

From the world’s second-smallest state, Monaco, to the most populous country, India, representatives from more than 20 governments and international organizations on Monday condemned the Taliban’s policies of shutting down secondary schools and denying other fundamental rights to Afghan girls and women. Even Pakistan, the purported benefactor of the Taliban, …

A report on the human rights situation in Sri Lanka urges the newly elected government to implement democratic reforms and combat impunity to prevent the recurrence of human rights violations. The report was submitted Monday to the U.N. Human Rights Council.  Widespread protests over high levels of inflation and shortages …

Pakistan scrambled to deliver aid to those most in need on Tuesday as the death toll from record-breaking floods in this impoverished Islamic nation rose further, with no respite in sight from the unprecedented monsoon rains. The rains started early this year — in mid-June — and swept away entire …

Excitement is building in Uzbekistan ahead of this week’s Shanghai Cooperation Organization meeting, where Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping will be the most prominent among more than a dozen world leaders visiting the Central Asian nation. “The world is coming to Samarkand” has been the theme …