RFE/RL’s Radio Free Afghanistan July 16, 2017 Afghan troops have recaptured a district from Taliban militants in the volatile southern province of Helmand, a government official said. A large-scale operation to retake Helmand’s Nawa district began early on July 15 with Afghan troops moving in from three different directions as international forces provided air support,
Ayaz Gul VOA News July 15, 2017 ISLAMABAD — Pakistan says it finds it necessary to build a fence along its long porous border with Afghanistan, in part because of a lack of cooperation from authorities in Kabul. The border region has long been a source of instability, with militant groups, terrorists and smugglers using the
Jeff Seldin VOA News July 14, 2017 PENTAGON — The top Islamic State official in Afghanistan has been killed in a U.S. airstrike, the second such targeted killing in the past four months and third in the past year. U.S. military officials said Friday that Abu Sayed was killed July 11 in a strike on the
Tolo News: At least three civilians were wounded in an explosion in Gardez city in Paktia province on Friday afternoon, local officials confirmed. Paktia police security officer Colonel Nisar Ahmad Abdul Rahimzai the explosion occurred when two suicide bombers riding a motorbike were identified and stopped by police in areas close to Kabul-Gardez road in Gardez
Tolo News: At least two Taliban fighters were killed and three others wounded after ambushing a convoy of four fuel tankers in Chashma-e-Sheer area in the north of Pul-e-Khumri city in northern Baghlan province on Thursday morning, local officials confirmed. According to the drivers of the tankers, a group of Taliban fighters fired rockets at them.
The Washington Post: The New York Times reported July 10 on meetings between President Trump, his top advisers and private military and security company (PMSC) magnates, Erik Prince (founder of Blackwater) and Stephen A. Feinberg (owner of DynCorp International) to discuss plans for having contractors take over U.S. operations in Afghanistan. The plans are said to
The New York Times: President Trump’s advisers recruited two businessmen who profited from military contracting to devise alternatives to the Pentagon’s plan to send thousands of additional troops to Afghanistan, reflecting the Trump administration’s struggle to define its strategy for dealing with a war now 16 years old. Click here to read more (external link). More
Tolo News: U.S Senator and Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee John McCain has criticized President Donald Trump’s Administration for delaying the announcement of America’s new war strategy in Afghanistan. He said that continued disarray within the White House is behind the delay in announcing and rolling out a new strategy. “And, you know, we
VOA News / July 8, 2017 Paul Alexander Noor Zahid WASHINGTON — Once a key ally in the U.S. war on terrorism, Pakistan finds itself increasingly isolated from Washington amid allegations that it harbors more than a dozen terrorist groups. Instead, it has been steadily cozying up to China and Russia. Both of America’s primary rivals
Noor Zahid Zia-U-Rahman Hasrat VOA News July 7, 2017 NANGARHAR, WASHINGTON — In a remote district of eastern Afghanistan’s Tora Bora mountains, where Osama bin Laden once took refuge, hundreds of local villagers freed from Islamic State control have been enlisted as a militia force to fight the terror group, provincial authorities said. The Afghan National