By RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi August 9, 2021 Afghan security forces battled Taliban fighters in the northern provinces of Balkh and Takhar on August 9, a day after militants overran three provincial capitals, including most of the strategic northeastern city of Kunduz, officials said. In Balkh, heavy clashes have been under way close to the provincial capital of
RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi August 8, 2021 Taliban fighters overran three provincial capitals, including the strategic city of Kunduz and Sar-e Pol in the north of the country on August 8, local officials and a spokesman for the militants said as the group stepped up its northern offensive and threatened more urban centers. The militants have
Press TV August 7, 2021 Numerous videos have emerged showing American-made military vehicles and equipment used by the Taliban in the newly-captured southwestern Afghan province of Nimroz as the militant group ramps up offensives to seize further territory across the conflict-ridden country. Video footage shared on Twitter and other social media networks on Friday displayed
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty August 7, 2021 A senior police official in Jawzjan Province told RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi on August 7 that the Taliban has seized Sheberghan, the capital of the province, after reports of heavy fighting in and around the city. Another Jawzjan police official told Radio Azadi that the Taliban had set fire
Ayaz Gul VOA News August 2, 2021 ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN – The U.S. Special Representative for Afghanistan reconciliation, Zalmay Khalilzad, says the United States remains committed to promoting a political settlement between warring Afghans, stressing that neither side to the conflict can win militarily. In an interview with VOA that comes as the United States works
Ayesha Tanzeem VOA News August 2, 2021 ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN – Afghanistan’s President Ashraf Ghani announced Monday that he finally has a clear plan to counter Taliban offensives across the country after his government was heavily criticized for its seeming lack of strategy in the last three months. The militants have made unexpectedly swift territorial gains,
By RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi August 2, 2021 Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on August 2 blamed Washington’s “sudden” decision about its troop withdrawal for the current insecurity in his country, as government troops battled Taliban militants for control of a southern provincial capital following weekend assaults on urban centers in a major escalation. Fighting raged in Lashkar
Jeff Seldin VOA News July 29, 2021 WASHINGTON – The Afghan government in Kabul will be fighting for its life and could well fall to the Taliban after the United States completes its military withdrawal from the country in August, according to a U.S. government watchdog charged with monitoring events on the ground. Despite a
Ayaz Gul VOA News July 24, 2021 ISLAMABAD – Authorities in Afghanistan on Saturday enforced an indefinite nighttime curfew across most of the country as government forces struggle to curb Taliban advances. The Islamist insurgent group has made rapid battlefield gains in recent weeks, bringing it close to capital cities of all 34 Afghan provinces
Rolling Stone: Kunduz, a city of some 370,000 people, had fallen to the Taliban twice before – in 2015 and 2016 — but was retaken with the help of U.S. Special Forces and air support. A loss here now would be severely demoralizing and could have a domino effect at a time when other provincial