Free Republic

The Russian Foreign Ministry has displaced a wrong map showing Pamir and Wakhan areas, located in the northern province of Badakhshan, out of Afghanistan's territory. Two days ago, the Russian Foreign Ministry published a map which indicated a path from Pakistan to Tajikistan via Badakhshan's areas of Wakhan and Pamir. The map didn't include some areas of Pamir and Wakhan as part of Afghanistan's soil. But the Russian Foreign Ministry said in an explanatory statement that the map presented on the Website was schematic and may not provide an accurate representation of national borders. However, such acts by the officials...

The Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF) killed 27 Taliban militants in northern Kunduz province, the Afghan military said. The 217th Pamir Corps in a statement said the security forces responded killed the militants while reacting to Taliban Taliban attacks in Khanabad and Dasht-e Archi districts. The statement further added that a large number of Taliban militants had also gathered in Imam Saheb district where they were planning a large scale attack against the security forces. The 217th Pamir Corps also added that a local commander of Taliban, Qari Hafiz, was also among those killed and 19 other militants...

China will build an observation station in the country's northwest Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region to improve the ecology of Pamir Plateau, a busy passage once for traders traveling along the ancient Silk Road. The station to be built in Taxkorgan County will be used by researchers concerned with water resources, biodiversity, grassland productivity, climate change and disaster warning and forecasting, said Lei Jiaqiang, director of the Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography under the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Field observation could also help the local community improve agriculture and livestock production efficiency and support the construction of the China-pakistan Economic...

The United States has discovered nearly $1 trillion in untapped mineral deposits in Afghanistan, far beyond any previously known reserves and enough to fundamentally alter the Afghan economy and perhaps the Afghan war itself, according to senior American government officials. The previously unknown deposits — including huge veins of iron, copper, cobalt, gold and critical industrial metals like lithium — are so big and include so many minerals that are essential to modern industry that Afghanistan could eventually be transformed into one of the most important mining centers in the world, the United States officials believe. An internal Pentagon memo,...