Pakistan and Afghanistan have agreed to extend a temporary ceasefire and will hold another round of peace talks in Istanbul next week, aiming to defuse tensions after a deadly flare-up this month. The two sides had been holding talks in Istanbul under Turkish and Qatari mediation until Islamabad said Wednesday that the negotiations had collapsed.

Relations between the two neighbors hit a low point this month, with fighting killing people on both sides of the border. At issue is a rise in militancy in Pakistan since the Taliban took over Afghanistan.

A powerful 6.3 magnitude earthquake struck near the northern Afghan city of Mazar-e Sharif early yesterday, killing at least 20 people, injuring hundreds and damaging the city’s historic Blue Mosque,

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Peace talks between Pakistan and Afghanistan have failed in Istanbul after four days of negotiations, Pakistan’s information minister said before dawn Wednesday, accusing the Taliban government in Kabul of refusing to act against militants blamed for deadly cross-border attacks.

"We have the option, if no agreement takes place, we have an open war with them," Defense Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif said in televised remarks from Pakistan. "But I saw that they want peace.

Khawaja Asif accused the Taliban government of harbouring fighters of TTP, the militant group responsible for a string of deadly attacks inside Pakistan.

An interactive map of Afghanistan, Project Athena is an archive to which veterans can upload photos, chronicling the war as they lived it.

Pakistan had launched airstrikes across the border earlier this month, and both sides exchanged heavy fire, killing dozens and prompting the closure of key crossings.

Doubling down on his 'proxy war' claim, Pakistan's Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said New Delhi was keeping Islamabad busy on both eastern and western fronts, referring to the recent clashes with Taliban forces along the Durand Line.

Adam Plumb had his own lucrative business and thought he had met his perfect partner when he fell for the high profile war pension campaigner Christina Schmid