By Ayaz Gul VOA News June 30,2020 ISLAMABAD – The Taliban said Tuesday its political chief in a video call with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has reassured him the Islamist insurgency does not allow anyone to use Afghanistan to plot attacks against other nations. Pompeo’s contact with Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, head of the
By Ayaz Gul VOA News June 24, 2020 ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN – A top Afghan official leading peacemaking efforts with the Taliban said Wednesday that he would be open to discussing formation of an interim government with the Islamist insurgent group when the two sides begin long-awaited peace negotiations. Abdullah Abdullah, head of Afghanistan’s High Council for
Ayesha Tanzeem VOA News June 22, 2020 ISLAMABAD – Afghanistan’s security forces have suffered their bloodiest week so far in the 19-year-old Afghan war. The Afghanistan’s National Security Council said 291 members of Afghan National and Defense Security Forces (ANDSF) were killed and 550 others wounded in multiple Taliban attacks last week. “Taliban carried out
Ayaz Gul VOA NEWS June 21, 2020 ISLAMABAD – The United Nations has accused Taliban insurgents and Afghan government forces of deliberate attacks on the country’s healthcare workers and facilities during the coronavirus outbreak. The pandemic has infected nearly 29,000 Afghans, killing close to 600, although independent experts and even Afghan officials fear the actual
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty June 19, 2020 The United States has reduced its troop presence in Afghanistan to levels agreed to as part of a February deal with the Taliban, the general who oversees the region says. “We agreed to go to the mid-8,000 range within 135 days,” General Kenneth McKenzie, the head of U.S.
By Jeff Seldin, Ayaz Gul VOA News | June 18, 2020 WASHINGTON/ISLAMABAD – U.S. officials say they are seriously investigating Taliban claims that Islamic State in Afghanistan was plotting to assassinate Zalmay Khalilzad, the American peace envoy for the country. The Taliban have recently shared with journalists a video of two blindfolded men in their custody, saying
Michael Hughes: Pentagon officials have said the Taliban are not meeting key conditions of the withdrawal pact it signed with the United States nearly four months ago. Meanwhile, a recent UN report revealed that the insurgent movement is still in bed with al-Qaeda, violating – at least in spirit – one of the key promises
Ayaz Gul VOA News June 14, 2020 ISLAMABAD – Afghanistan’s warring sides have agreed to open long-awaited peace talks in Qatar, possibly later this month, to negotiate a sustainable cease-fire and political settlement to years of conflict in Afghanistan. A spokesman for the Taliban insurgency on Sunday confirmed to VOA the breakthrough development but did
News Intervention: On June 9, Pakistan Army Chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa went to Afghanistan, unannounced. This is the first visit by a prominent Pakistani after the US-Taliban peace deal in February this year. It’s also the first prominent Pakistani visit after the results of Afghanistan elections… it’s clear that Pakistan’s ISI and their senior
Ayaz Gul VOA News June 11, 2020 ISLAMABAD – The Taliban on Thursday rejected a top American general’s assessment that the al-Qaida leadership is still based in Afghanistan, insisting that no foreign fighters linked to the group are present in the country. The contention, analysts say, underscored a long-running trust deficit between the Afghan insurgency