The quake’s epicentre was located at a latitude of 36.10°N and a longitude of 71.20°E, with a depth of 130 kilometers.
In the old and new Great Game, Afghanistan has held a central position. Peter Hopkirk, in his path-breaking book The Great Game: The Struggle for Empire in Central Asia, chronicled the 19th-century geopolitical chessboard involving Britain and Russia.
There is an unconfirmed report that the US has redeployed at the Bagram air base in Afghanistan. This base was the command centre for NATO and US forces throughout their occupation of Afghanistan.
Within Pakistan, the unforgiving regions of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Baluchistan have had an especially violent ‘gun-culture’, for a long time. Bloody, inter-tribal, anti- ‘foreigner’ and familial feuds are a way of life, and often the family sentinels peer at their neighbours through rifle ports.
Afghan refugees awaiting resettlement to the United States have written an 'open letter' to Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to immediately halt their deportation to Afghanistan as the March 31 deadline approaches closer.
According to HRW, women and girls are blocked from accessing health care as well. Reports suggest that women and girls facing violence have no escape route.
Allowing girls into schools and other educational institutes has been one of the main demands of the international community.
The decision to postpone a return of girls in high schools appears to be a concession to the rural and predominantly tribal segment of the hardline Taliban movement, that in many parts of Afghanistan are reluctant to send their daughters to school.
"The de facto authorities' failure to adhere to commitments to reopen schools for girls above the sixth grade - in spite of repeated commitments towards girls' education, including during my visit to Kabul two weeks ago - is deeply damaging for Afghanistan", High Commissioner Michelle Bachelet said in a statement.
According to HRW, women and girls are blocked from accessing health care as well. Reports suggest that women and girls facing violence have no escape route.
