Pakistani lawyers staged a nationwide strike on Tuesday after dozens of colleagues were slain in a suicide bombing that killed at least 70 people at a hospital in the southwestern city of Quetta. - Reuters
Islamic State and the Taliban, after more than a year of fierce combat, have forged a patchwork cease-fire across much of eastern Afghanistan that has helped both insurgencies regroup and counter U.S.-backed efforts to dislodge them. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
The Islamic State group is circulating photos of potentially sensitive American military equipment and identification cards purportedly confiscated by militants after recent battlefield engagements in Afghanistan. – Military Times
As a member of the male-dominated local Kandahar government, called the provincial council, Sarina Faizy is accustomed to standing out. She comes from the heartland of Pashtun culture, where a woman’s place is hidden and where the Taliban established its rule in 1994 based on the unyielding doctrine of Islamic Sharia law. Women are forbidden to work, to seek an education or to participate in governance and the shaping of their communities. Yet she sits on the government and is outspoken in her fight for equity and peace in her country. – Stars and Stripes
An Afghan official says the crew of a Pakistani helicopter that crashed in a lawless region of Afghanistan is being held by Taliban insurgents. – Associated Press
An elite new Taliban force is proving its strength in the strategic southern province of Helmand, pointing to the insurgents' ability to refine their battlefield techniques to match Afghanistan's increasingly professional national army. – Associated Press
Five gunmen wearing Afghan military uniforms have abducted an American and an Australian in the Afghan capital, Kabul, a security official said Monday. – Associated Press
South Asia
At least 42 people were killed on Monday in the restive Pakistani city of Quetta when an explosion, apparently caused by a suicide bomber, struck a hospital where dozens of lawyers had gathered to condemn the killing of a prominent colleague. – New York Times
An American citizen previously deported from Pakistan on charges of espionage was arrested Saturday in the Pakistani capital for illegally reentering the country, officials said. – Washington Post
After nearly eight years of waiting, India has signed a $300 million contract with Rosoboronexport of Russia to upgrade 10 Russian-made submarine-hunting helicopters for the Indian Navy, said an Indian Ministry of Defence (MoD) official. – Defense News