VOA News Ayaz Gul July 31, 2016 ISLAMABAD—The Afghan government has shown its displeasure over reports that a Taliban delegation visited China, saying Beijing should not provide “a platform” to groups that are involved in the killing of Afghans. Afghan security forces meanwhile have retaken control of a southern district they briefly lost to Taliban
VOA News Ayaz Gul July 31, 2016 ISLAMABAD—An international human rights group Sunday demanded authorities in Afghanistan prosecute militia forces linked to a top government official for recent killings and other abuses against civilians in the northern Faryab province. The New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) says that its probe into the late June attack
Press TV July 31, 2016 At least two dozen Afghan police officers have been killed in a series of attacks by the Taliban militants in the southern province of Helmand in 48 hours, local officials say. Kareem Atal, the director of Helmand’s provincial council, said on Sunday that the policemen were killed during clashes with
Press TV July 30, 2016 An explosion has rocked Afghanistan’s western city of Herat, leaving one civilian dead and five others, including a police force member, wounded. Herat police said the blast took place close to a compound belonging to the Afghan army on Herat’s Minarets Road on Saturday morning. Officials said the explosives were placed
Ayaz Gul VOA News July 30, 2016 ISLAMABAD—Afghan officials and Taliban sources in Afghanistan confirmed the Islamist insurgency has overrun another district in the southern Helmand province, which borders Pakistan. Taliban fighters staged a surprise assault on Khanashin overnight and fighting was still continuing in parts of the district, a provincial government spokesman told Afghan
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty July 29, 2016 The Afghan government lost control of nearly 5 percent of its territory between January and May 2016, despite the delayed U.S. troop withdrawal, a new report from the top U.S. government watchdog says. The report, published by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, said the Afghan government
VOA News Carla Babb July 28, 2016 PENTAGON—Increases in airstrikes, U.S. injuries, and a wider range of authorities for U.S. troops are revealing a much more involved U.S. military presence in Afghanistan, despite a planned reduction of troops there by the end of the year. The top U.S. general in Afghanistan said Thursday his forces
VOA News July 28, 2016 Five U.S. special operations troops in Afghanistan have been wounded in combat with Islamic State fighters, according to the top U.S. commander in the country. General John Nicholson, top commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, told reporters Thursday that the troops were hit by small arms fire or
SHIBERGHAN, Afghanistan, July 28 (Xinhua)– Taliban militants launched massive offensives on Khan Aqa and Faizabad districts in Afghanistan’s Jauzjan province Thursday morning, triggering heavy fighting which has been continuing, spokesman for provincial government Abdul Razaq Ghafori said. “More than 120 Taliban rebels launched coordinated attacks against government interests in Khan Aqa and Faizabad districts Wednesday
Associated Press: The Islamic State group presence in Afghanistan is directly linked to the parent organization in Iraq and Syria, the U.S. Army general in charge of American and NATO troops in Afghanistan said on Wednesday. Gen. John Nicholson, speaking to The Associated Press in an interview, says IS loyalists in Afghanistan have financial, communications and strategic