RFE/RL’s Radio Free Afghanistan: Afghans have been returning to their ruined homes in Nangarhar Province after officials claimed they had cleared it of remaining Islamic State fighters and showed captured militants to the media. RFE/RL met one family who returned to find their house destroyed, their crops stolen, and the land around them mined.
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty December 17, 2019 U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper on December 15 said he wants a drawdown of soldiers in Afghanistan “with or without” a peace deal, while voicing confidence that the head of the NATO mission in the country could carry out current tasks with fewer numbers. The administration of President
Michael Hughes: The Washington Post’s Afghanistan Papers was met with deafening silence because most astute observers already knew the U.S. military had painted a false picture of the war, not to mention the fact the document dump was released to an indifferent American public. That said, the documents still shine a bright light on the incompetence and
Ayaz Gul VOA News December 16, 2019 ISLAMABAD – The U.S. military told VOA Monday it has not received orders to reduce troop levels in Afghanistan and remains fully committed to Afghan partners to achieve security objectives. However, officials in Afghanistan have confirmed to VOA that the United States plans to withdraw thousands of troops
Tolo News: A clash in Mazar-e-Sharif, Balkh province, started late Saturday night and ended on Sunday night, nearly 20 hours after security forces surrounded the residence of Nizamuddin Qaisari, the former police chief of Faryab’s Qaisar district. The house was in Police District 5 (PD5) of Mazar-e-Sharif. Gen. Mohammad Ajmal Fayez, the provincial police chief, claimed
Tolo News: A clash that started late Saturday night in Mazar-e-Sharif, capital of Balkh province, is still ongoing. Security forces have surrounded the house of Nizamuddin Qaisari, the former police chief of Faryab’s Qaisar district, police officials confirmed. Afghan helicopters targeted the house of Nizamuddin Qaisari, and “special forces have arrived at the scene,” said police
Press TV December 15, 2019 The US government is reportedly planning to announce withdrawal of over 4,000 troops from Afghanistan as early as next week. Between 8,000 and 9,000 American troops will be left in Afghanistan after the withdrawal, NBC News reported Sunday, citing US officials. The report was published after US Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation
Salon: If it disturbs us that the U.S. public was misled, shouldn’t we be even more disturbed by the way that the Afghans themselves were lied to? If the lies to the U.S. public are disturbing, wouldn’t the ones to Afghans be even more so? And, how is it that the cost to the U.S.
Ayaz Gul VOA News December 14, 2019 ISLAMABAD – Officials in Afghanistan said Saturday Taliban infiltrators have killed at least 25 government security forces in the eastern volatile Ghazni province. The overnight insider attack happened in the Qarabagh district where a group of seven security personnel Friday night turned their guns on fellow soldiers at
RFE/RL’s Radio Free Afghanistan December 13, 2019 Ten people, including four women and a child, were killed in a roadside bomb explosion in eastern Afghanistan, officials said on December 13. The occurred in the volatile district of Jaghatu in Ghazni province. All the victims of the blast were civilians, said Aref Noori, a spokesman for