By RFE/RL’s Radio Free Afghanistan March 7, 2019 KABUL — An Afghan presidential candidate and eight bodyguards of a rival candidate have been injured by a mortar barrage in western Kabul at a ceremony honoring a prominent Afghan Shi’ite leader who was killed by the Taliban. Amid conflicting reports about the overall death toll, RFE/RL
Ayaz Gul VOA News March 6, 2019 ISLAMABAD — Two influential members of the United States Senate have introduced legislation that would end the nearly two-decade long war in Afghanistan. The move comes at a time when U.S. officials are engaged in direct talks with Taliban insurgents to negotiate a draw-down plan and counterterrorism guarantees. The
By RFE/RL’s Radio Free Afghanistan March 6, 2019 An Afghan official says the death toll of a militant attack on a construction company in eastern Afghanistan has risen to 17. Attaullah Khogyani, a spokesman for the governor of Nangarhar province, said three militants stormed a construction company near the main airport in the provincial capital,
Task & Purpose: Like Joseph Stalin and Mao Zedong, U.S. officials have a five-year plan — for ending America’s longest war, that is. The New York Times reports that a new U.S. government plan would see the withdrawal of all U.S. troops from Afghanistan in the next three to five years, with half of the 14,000 American
Ayaz Gul VOA News March 1, 2019 ISLAMABAD — The Taliban carried out a pre-dawn assault Friday against a major military base in southern Afghanistan, killing at least 25 troops and taking “a number of others” hostage. Afghan officials and Taliban sources say a group of heavily armed insurgents in military uniforms, including suicide bombers, stormed
Tolo News: The Hizb-e-Islami leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, who signed a peace deal with the Afghan government in 2016, says everyone in Afghanistan, including the Taliban, are tired of the war and that the group is now “serious” about a political settlement to the conflict in the country. “I feel that not only our nation but also
Al Jazeera: Comprising 15 percent of the population, the mostly Shia Muslim ethnic minority has long suffered targeted killings – The Hazara have long suffered oppression and persecution in Afghanistan. They are now often targeted by groups swearing allegiance to ISIL. In the 1990s, thousands were killed by al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters. The Taliban declared them as “non-Muslims” during their rule from 1996
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty February 26, 2019 Afghan officials say that an air strike has mistakenly killed nine members of a government-backed militia. Provincial officials said that at least three members of the forces were also wounded in the strike, which took place in the eastern province of Ghazni late on February 26. The militiamen
Tolo News: President Ashraf Ghani has reacted to reports on a plan to establish an interim government in the country as part of a peace plan, and said the plan has been outlined outside the country and that it is not applicable in Afghanistan. Addressing a group of youths and activists from the southern provinces at
Tolo News: The fifth of round of talks between the United States officials and the Taliban representatives will be held in Doha, Qatar, on February 25, but sources said some members of the Taliban will not attend the talks. According to sources, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, head of Taliban’s Qatar office and an influential figure among