RFE/RL’s Radio Free Afghanistan August 8, 2020 A traditional Afghan council is expected to back a proposal for the government to release a final group of 400 Taliban prisoners, a move that potentially paves the way for intra-Afghan peace talks. Abdullah Abdullah, the head of the Loya Jirga gathering Afghan politicians and community leaders, said
Ayaz Gul VOA News August 7, 2020 ISLAMABAD – A traditional public assembly, known as a Loya Jirga, opened in Afghanistan Friday to determine whether a last set of 400 hard-core prisoners from the Taliban insurgency should be freed to clear the way for long-awaited direct peace talks between Afghanistan’s warring sides. Afghan President Ashraf
Ariana: A traditional consultative council, or Loya Jirga, will convene in Kabul on Friday to decide the fate of the last 400 Taliban prisoners who have not yet been released in accordance with the US-Taliban Doha agreement. The agreement called for the release of 5,000 Taliban prisoners and 1,000 government personnel that were being held
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty August 6, 2020 Taliban militants and Afghan civilians have been killed in attacks and clashes across Afghanistan amid peace efforts aimed at ending the nearly 19-year war. Defense Ministry spokesman Fawad Aman said at least 16 Taliban militants were killed in two separate clashes with government forces in the eastern province
Xinhua: At least three persons were killed and two others wounded as a roadside bomb struck a car in Pul-e-Khumri, the capital of Afghanistan’s northern Baghlan province, on Wednesday, provincial government spokesman Nazir Najam said. According to the official, a mine planted by the Taliban militants struck the car of Mahboubullah Ghafari, a former member
Ayaz Gul VOA News August 4, 2020 ISLAMABAD – U.S. President Donald Trump has said the U.S. military presence in Afghanistan will be reduced to “anywhere from 4,000 to 5,000” troops by November this year. Trump’s remarks to Axios for HBO came as the Afghan Taliban has said its chief peace negotiator in a video
RFE/RL’s Radio Free Afghanistan August 4, 2020 The Afghan government will convene a grand assembly of elders, known as the Loya Jirga, in Kabul on August 7 to decide the fate of hundreds of Taliban prisoners that Taliban leaders insist should be released before they join peace talks with the government. Last week, President Ashraf
Ariana: Iranian authorities have arrested a group of Afghans who waved a flag in celebration of Eid al-Adha in a park in Tehran. MENAFM reported that Iranian intelligence and police officials confirmed to local media outlets that the security forces arrested the group during an operation. The Iranian authorities reportedly acted to detain the Taliban supporters
NBC News: In mid-July, reports emerged about Qamar Gul, 15, who says she gunned down two fighters with her father’s AK-47 weapon. Almost immediately, the story electrified some in Afghanistan, a country buffeted by decades of war. “Yesterday it was Malalai, today it is Qamar Gul,” said Turkmen, a student of political science, comparing her
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty August 2, 2020 An attack on a prison in Afghanistan has left several people dead and dozens wounded as violence continues unabated in the war-torn nation. Assailants on August 2 set off a car bomb outside a prison in the eastern Afghan province of Nangarhar and then proceeded to storm it,