RFE/RL’s Radio Free Afghanistan May 11, 2017 Afghan warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar’s Hezb-e Islami group said on May 11 that it will not hand over its weapons, despite pledging to do so as part of a peace deal signed with the government in September. The decision prompted a rebuke from President Ashraf Ghani’s office, with a
Al Jazeera: German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said that she does not believe Germany is “first in line” to send more troops to Afghanistan, as NATO considers a proposal to boost forces there. “I don’t think we’re first in line to expand our capacities there,” Merkel said after meeting with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg on Thursday.
Press TV May 10, 2017 NATO says its military authorities want more troops deployed to war-ravaged Afghanistan in the form of a “train, assist and advise operation.” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters following talks with British Prime Minister Theresa May at her Downing Street office in London on Wednesday that the troops were needed to
Press TV May 9, 2017 US military officials and the State Department have recommended sending 3,000 to 5,000 additional troops, including hundreds of Special Operations forces, to Afghanistan, according to American media reports. American officials said the US military needs a bigger role in Afghanistan to push the Taliban militant group back to the negotiating
Tolo News: Local officials in Sar-e-Pul province in Afghanistan’s north claimed on Tuesday that two military helicopters landed in the Sayyad district in the province in order to equip insurgents. “According to the report we have received from the 2nd Battalion of the Afghan National Army, which fights on the first line of the battle in
VOA News Ayaz Gul May 8, 2017 ISLAMABAD — Authorities in Afghanistan say that fresh airstrikes in an eastern volatile region have killed at least 34 Islamic State militants and destroyed a radio station the terrorist group was using for extremist propaganda. The Afghan Interior Ministry said Monday the strikes targeted IS hideouts in Naziyan and
RFE/RL’s Radio Free Afghanistan May 7, 2017 Afghanistan has disputed a claim by the Pakistani Army that it had killed some 50 security personnel and destroyed at least five Afghan checkpoints near the border between the two countries, saying only two border police were killed. Pakistani Major General Nadeem Ahmad told reporters on May 7
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty May 7, 2017 Pope Francis has criticized the naming of the U.S. military’s biggest nonnuclear explosive as “the Mother of All Bombs,” saying motherhood should not be associated with a deadly weapon. Speaking to students at the Vatican on May 6, the Pope said he was “ashamed” when he heard the
Ayaz Gul VOA News May 7, 2017 ISLAMABAD — Heavy fighting is raging in northern Afghanistan where the Taliban insurgency has overrun several districts since launching its so-called yearly “spring offensive” more than a week ago. The battlefield advances have again brought insurgents close enough to threaten Kunduz, the strategically important city the Taliban had briefly
Tolo News: Afghan and Pakistani border forces met in Spin Boldak district of southern Kandahar province on Friday evening to discuss the security situation – an hour after clashes stopped following a ceasefire. This came after border forces opened fire on each other across the Durand Line after Afghan authorities accused Pakistani officials of having breached