Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty November 18, 2018 The Associated Press reports that high-ranking members of the Taliban have held three days of talks in Qatar with the U.S. peace envoy for Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad. The report on November 18 said the former Taliban governor of Herat Province, Khairullah Khairkhwa, and former Taliban military chief Mohammed
IPD: As Washington seeks to stabilize the situation in Afghanistan, it has sought various avenues to change the course of the war. Despite exhausting a variety of resources and billions of dollars, Washington’s policies have yet to address the root cause of the war: Pakistan’s pivotal role in the Taliban’s insurgency. Instead, Washington has acknowledged Pakistan’s
Tolo News: A key member of Jamiat-e-Islami party and former minister of energy and water, Mohammad Ismail Khan, says the representatives of the party have asked the president not to dissolve the High Peace Council and to ensure a peace negotiations team is not a parallel body to the HPC. According to the Presidential Palace, President
Ayaz Gul VOA News November 17, 2018 ISLAMABAD — The U.S. special representative for Afghanistan reconciliation, Zalmay Khalilzad, has held another round of marathon discussions with Qatar-based Taliban officials to push for a politically negotiated settlement to the 17-year war. Khalilzad’s three days of meetings with the Islamist insurgency concluded on Friday and both sides were
“We have no eternal allies, and we have no perpetual enemies. Our interests are eternal and perpetual, and those interests it is our duty to follow.” -Lord Palmerston, speech in House of Commons, 1848 Michael Hughes November 16, 2018 The Russian government escalated its involvement in the 21st Century’s version of the Great Game by
The Hill: The situation in Afghanistan is murky no longer – because it has, to a large extent, spiraled out of control. Rather than seeking a win-win scenario in which the United States might forge a deal with the Taliban for a more peaceful country, U.S. officials instead seem hell-bent on delivering to the Taliban everything
Al Jazeera: Russia is seeking to re-assert itself as a major player in Afghanistan – For keen observers of Russian foreign policy, it was clear that the conference was not more than a photo-op meant to publicly declare the Kremlin’s ambition to re-assert itself in the southern part of Central Asia and Afghanistan in particular. Click here
Ariana: In reaction to the Wall Street Journal’s report, the U.S. Ambassador in Kabul John Bass on Tuesday said that the United States is committed to helping the Afghan electoral commissions and the government to hold the presidential elections in April next year. The WSJ [Wall Street Journal] reported that the Trump administration is discussing whether to
Ayaz Gul VOA News November 12, 2018 ISLAMABAD — Russia said Monday the Taliban has secretly held 10 rounds of talks with the United States, other than the officially announced recent contact between the two sides in Qatar on how to end the war in Afghanistan. There have been only two publicly known meetings U.S. officials
Tolo News: A splinter faction of the Taliban, led by Mullah Abdul Manan Niazi, said on Sunday the recent Moscow meeting on peace in Afghanistan was a “lie”.But officials from Afghanistan High Peace Council (HPC) said Friday’s Moscow meeting was an important platform towards building peace in Afghanistan and that the peace facilitating body is optimistic