Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty March 29, 2020 The Afghan government has slammed the Taliban after the militant group rejected Kabul’s negotiating team for upcoming intra-Afghan peace talks aimed at ending the nearly 19-year war. Waheed Omar, President Ashraf Ghani’s adviser, told reporters in Kabul on March 29 that the Taliban “should not make excuses any
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty March 28, 2020 Taliban forces have taken control of a district headquarters in Afghanistan’s northeastern province of Badakhshan, an overnight development that was followed on March 28 by an announcement that the militant group will not negotiate with a team recently unveiled by the Afghan government. The district headquarters in Yumgan
Frud Bezhan Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty March 26, 2020 The United States has publicly hailed its agreement with the Taliban as a “historic opportunity” to end the nearly 19-year war in Afghanistan. But several crucial issues are either vague or entirely absent from the accord, prompting fears that the deal will not achieve a lasting
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty March 26, 2020 A small explosion has disrupted the funeral services for 25 members of Afghanistan’s Sikh community who were killed earlier this week in an attack by an Islamic State gunman on their religious compound. No one was hurt when the explosive device detonated near the crematorium where the ceremonies
Ayaz Gul VOA News March 25, 2020 ISLAMABAD – Officials in Afghanistan say heavily armed suicide bombers Wednesday stormed a minority Sikh worship place in Kabul, killing at least 25 worshippers and injuring at least eight others. The local television station TOLO TV said at least 11 members of the minority community were also injured.
RFE/RL’s Radio Free Afghanistan March 24, 2020 KABUL — Afghan President Ashraf Ghani says a cut in aid from the United States will not affect “key” areas of daily life in the war-torn country even as it battles to stem the coronavirus outbreak. The U.S. State Department announced late on March 23 that it was
Frud Bezhan Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty March 23, 2020 In the mid-1990s, U.S. oil company Unocal attempted to secure a gas-pipeline deal with the Taliban, which had seized control of the Afghan capital, Kabul, after a devastating civil war. It was the United States’ first attempt to forge a partnership with the fundamentalist Taliban regime,
Ayesha Tanzeem VOA News March 23, 2020 ISLAMABAD – U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made a previously unannounced visit to Kabul Monday to try to resolve a political dispute between Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and rival Abdullah Abdullah. The dispute threatens to derail a deal that the United States and the Taliban signed last
Ariana: Zarifa Ghafari Mayor of Maidan Shahr, the capital of Maidan Wardak province, has survived a gun attack in Kabul, the Interior Ministry said in a statement Sunday. Zarifa Ghafari – the first Afghan female mayor – was honored by the US Secretary of State with the International Women of Courage Award on Wednesday on
By Jeff Seldin VOA News March 20, 2020 Almost a week since the Afghan Taliban trumpeted the defeat of the Islamic State in Afghanistan’s Kunar province, U.S. officials remain wary, though they concede the terror group’s grip on territory in rural areas appears to be slipping. The latest assessment is consistent with U.S. appraisals of previous