RFE/RL’s Radio Free Afghanistan October 5, 2020 Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has arrived in Qatar for a bilateral meeting with the leaders of the Gulf state but will not hold talks with Taliban representatives even as peace talks are under way in the country’s capital city, Doha, according to officials. Negotiations between the Afghan government
Ariana: The Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) has expressed deep concern over increasingly frequent targeted civilian killings across the country. In a statement released Sunday, the AIHRC said their findings showed that in the first six months of this year, 533 people had been killed and 412 wounded in systematic and targeted assassinations. Click
The Daily Star: Afghanistan cricket suffered two cruel blows in the last two days. According to reports, Afghan opener Najeebullah Tarakai is in a critical condition following a road accident on Friday. According to another report, international umpire Bismillah Jan Shinwari died in a roadside blast which took place in Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province on Saturday,
Michael Hughes: Pakistani officials recently had a golden opportunity to provide Afghan counterparts a glimmer of hope that a ceasefire with the Taliban was a possibility. A gesture of any sort would have been uplifting, considering the militant group has shown no signs that they will let up on their offensives inside Afghanistan, despite the
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty October 3, 2020 More than a dozen people have been killed and at least 30 injured in a car-bomb attack in eastern Afghanistan. Officials in the Ghani Khel district of Nangarhar Province said the October 3 blast targeted an administrative building that also housed some military facilities. Several armed gunmen reportedly
By Frud Bezhan Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty October 2, 2020 The Afghan government and the Taliban will need to find compromises on a plethora of contentious issues to reach a peace settlement — from civil liberties and women’s rights to the country’s name and flag. The most crucial issue facing the warring sides is the makeup
Ariana: Acting Foreign Minister Mohammad Haneef Atmar says that the Taliban had agreed, but failed to adhere to their commitment, “to reduce violence following the completion of prisoners’ release.” Click here to read more (external link). Related Taliban must lower their violence: US General Miller Khalilzad Renews Call on Afghans to Agree on Political Settlement
Tolo News: The plan will include merging 10,000 local policemen with local army forces and others with the ANP. The government has started implementing a plan to merge the Afghan Local Police with Afghan Local Army and the Afghan National Police, officials said on Friday. Recently, the Afghan government separated the Public Protection Forces, Border
RFE/RL’s Radio Free Afghanistan October 1, 2020 An Afghan official says at least nine people were killed when a suicide car bomber attacked a military checkpoint in the southern province of Helmand. Four civilians, including two women, were among those who died in the late September 30 attack in the Nahri Sarah district, according to Omer Zwak,
Stars and Stripes: A military program that gave troops advising and language training in an effort to develop cultural experts in Central Asia shut down Wednesday, the Pentagon said. The Afghanistan-Pakistan Hands program closed after more than a decade of training advisers in languages such as Dari, Pashto or Urdu, said Richard Osial, spokesman for