India appointed on Monday a special government representative to pursue talks in Kashmir aimed at easing a decades-long conflict that has claimed thousands of lives.

UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura said Thursday he hopes to launch ‘real, substantive’ peace talks in October, after the opposition has had time to develop a more pragmatic negotiating strategy.

Syria peace talks hosted by the United Nations in Geneva spawned a new series of meetings on Thursday with no hint of tangible progress towards a deal to end the six-year-old civil war.

Syria's regime said on Friday that the latest UN-backed peace talks must start with a focus on terrorism after attacks around Damascus, a call likely to be rejected by the opposition.

Rebels and jihadists on Tuesday launched a fresh assault on east Damascus, two days after Syrian government forces repelled an initial attack just a few kilometres from the centre of the capital.

Russia accused the main Syrian opposition group at peace talks in Geneva of sabotaging the process on Thursday, a day after Moscow foreign ministry officials met the rebels for rare talks on how to narrow their differences.

US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter landed in Afghanistan on Friday on an unannounced visit, as uncertainty lingers over President-elect Donald Trump's strategy on America's longest war with no end in sight.

The UN envoy for Yemen has announced a new bid for peace talks between the government and rebels, after the latest ceasefire failed to end the 20-month conflict.

The Taliban has denied a news report that it recently restarted peace talks with the Afghan government.

Regional powers agreed to try to revive Afghanistan's stalled peace process after almost 40 years of conflict, the EU's foreign policy chief said on Wednesday ...

The US pressed Russia on Thursday for a "true cessation of hostilities" in Syria ahead of a expected high-level peace talks in Geneva, warning that its patience is running thin.

Israel approved on Wednesday 284 new housing units in Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank at a time of heightened international concern over a construction drive on land Palestinians seek for a state.