Tolo News: Following weeks of delays, the Afghan government on Wednesday announced the release of 100 Taliban prisoners, a move expected to be a step closer to intra-Afghan talks. The Office of the National Security Council in a statement confirmed the release of the prisoners, saying it was the fulfillment of a recent decree made
1TV: During his visit to Kabul two weeks ago, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told President Ashraf Ghani and his political rival Abdullah Abdullah to resolve their differences and make a deal with the Taliban or US could not only cut $1 billion in financial aid to Afghanistan but also could pull all of
By Ayesha Tanzeem VOA News April 7, 2020 ISLAMABAD – The Afghan Taliban said Tuesday they will now approach the Americans to resolve the prisoner release issue, after telling its technical team in Kabul to stop participating in what they called “fruitless meetings” with representatives of Afghan government. The release of up to 5,000 Taliban
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty April 7, 2020 Human Rights Watch (HRW) is urging the Afghan government to bring war crimes charges against the captured leader of the Islamic State of Khorasan Province (ISKP), an affiliate of the extremist group Islamic State (IS). In a statement late on April 6, HRW said Afghanistan must afford a fair trial
Ayaz Gul VOA News April 5, 2020 ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN – The United States has linked international aid for Afghanistan to the settlement of a protracted political crisis, which has seen the war-shattered country politically paralyzed and threatens to derail a nascent peace-building deal with the Taliban insurgency. Separately, an American military spokesman has rejected insurgent
Tolo News: The Taliban in a statement on Sunday said the deal that they signed with the US on Feb. 29 has been “violated” in clear instances by the United States and its allies. In their statement, the group connected the violation of the deal to the delay in the release of 5,000 prisoners from
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty April 5, 2020 By Frud Bezhan KABUL — Ahmad Zia was sitting behind his wooden registration table when a suicide bombing ripped through Kabul’s Maiwand Wrestling Club, where scores of athletes were in the middle of a training session. The blast flung Zia, the club administrator, off his chair and into
Ariana: National Directorate of Security, in a statement, says that it has arrested, Abdullah Orakzai aka Aslam Farooqi, the Khurasan leader of Daesh, along with 19 of his men, including Qari Zahid and Saifullah aka Abu Talha Pakistani, in an operation conducted by the special forces of the directorate. Click here to read more (external
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty April 4, 2020 Afghanistan’s Interior Ministry says gunmen have shot and killed a member of the presidential guard in the outskirts of the capital, Kabul. Interior Ministry spokesman Tariq Arian said on April 4 that another member of the Presidential Protective Service (PPS) was wounded in the same attack late on
Tolo News: Referring to COVID-19, Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid was quoted by the Associated Press on Wednesday as saying: “If, God forbid, the outbreak happens in an area where we control the situation then we will stop fighting in that area.” But a Western security source says attacks–from all sides–are occurring alongside the COVID-19 spread