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.
India is in touch with Pakistan for the supply of 50,000 metric tonnes of wheat for the people of Afghanistan. The wheat is to be transported to the war-torn country through Pakistan territory.
The recent incidents on the Afghan-Pak border have brought to light the age-old issue of Durand Line that Pakistan had hoped to resolve with the Taliban holding the reins in Kabul.
A source wishing not to be named said on Thursday the Pakistani military was planning the installation of a fence on Durand Line in the Chaharboluk district's Dak locality.
India in October had announced 50,000 metric tonnes of wheat for Afghanistan as humanitarian assistance and requested Pakistan to open its border for transporting the food grains. Pakistan, which otherwise does not allow two-way trade between India and Afghanistan, decided to create an exception by allowing the Indian wheat to pass through its land route.
Afghanistan is considered the worst place to be a child, as 4 million children are out of school and 2 million are working as child labourers, according to estimates by international organisations.
