Ariana: The Taliban executed a journalist (Javid Noori) who was traveling on a bus with around 30 other passengers in western Farah province when it was stopped and searched at a Taliban roadblock, Reporters without Borders (RSF) said in a statement. Click here to read more (external link). Related Reporters Without Borders (RSF) on Tuesday reiterated
RFE/RL’s Radio Free Afghanistan January 9, 2019 KABUL — The U.S. special envoy on Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, has begun a two-week diplomatic tour of Afghanistan and other countries in the region in an attempt to push forward the peace process with the Taliban. Khalilzad began his latest diplomatic mission on January 8 — the same
RFE/RL’s Radio Free Afghanistan January 8, 2019 KABUL — Afghan Taliban representatives say they have called off two days of peace talks with U.S. officials in Qatar, just hours after they had announced the talks would take place without any delegates from Afghanistan’s government. A Taliban representative in Afghanistan had told Reuters early on January
Ayaz Gul VOA News January 7, 2019 ISLAMABAD — More than 30 people, mostly pro-government forces, were killed in Afghanistan when Taliban insurgents stormed security outposts and a bomb blast ripped through a busy market, officials confirmed Monday. The Taliban staged coordinated raids in two districts of northwestern Badghis province late Sunday, killing 21 Afghan soldiers
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty January 5, 2019 Afghan special forces have rescued 12 people from a Taliban prison in the country’s south on the same day that the militants kidnapped a group of 15 government employees in the west, officials said. The National Directorate of Security (NDS), the country’s main intelligence agency, said in a
Ayaz Gul VOA News January 5, 2019 ISLAMABAD — The Taliban has said that its engagement with the United States for negotiating an end to “the war and illegitimate occupation” of Afghanistan remains on track, ruling out once again any direct peace talks with the government in Kabul Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told VOA a new
Ayaz Gul VOA News January 2, 2019 ISLAMABAD — Taliban insurgents have detonated a powerful bomb near a major military base in Afghanistan’s southern Kandahar province, killing at least five soldiers and wounding six others. The attack happened Tuesday night in the volatile Maiwand district, where Taliban rebels dug a two-kilometer tunnel into the Afghan National
Ayaz Gul VOA News January 1, 2019 ISLAMABAD — The Taliban has killed more than 20 pro-government forces and captured several security outposts in northern Afghanistan. The insurgents staged the deadly offensive to try to take control of oil fields in Sayyad district in Sar-e-Pol province, a local government spokesman told VOA Tuesday. Zabihullah Amani said
Ayaz Gul VOA News December 31, 2018 ISLAMABAD — China has advised the United States against staging an abrupt troop withdrawal from Afghanistan and called for collective international efforts to help initiate a peace process between the South Asian nation’s warring parties. The remarks by a top Chinese diplomat Sunday in neighboring Pakistan come amid unconfirmed
Ayaz Gul VOA News December 31, 2018 ISLAMABAD — An Afghan Taliban delegation visited Iran on Sunday and held bilateral talks on promoting peace and stability in Afghanistan. The development comes as the Afghan insurgent group claims it has established control over 61 of the 407 Afghan districts during the 2018 fighting season. Iran’s Foreign Ministry