Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty June 19, 2020 The United States has reduced its troop presence in Afghanistan to levels agreed to as part of a February deal with the Taliban, the general who oversees the region says. “We agreed to go to the mid-8,000 range within 135 days,” General Kenneth McKenzie, the head of U.S.
By Jeff Seldin, Ayaz Gul VOA News | June 18, 2020 WASHINGTON/ISLAMABAD – U.S. officials say they are seriously investigating Taliban claims that Islamic State in Afghanistan was plotting to assassinate Zalmay Khalilzad, the American peace envoy for the country. The Taliban have recently shared with journalists a video of two blindfolded men in their custody, saying
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty June 10, 2020 A top Russian diplomat says Russia, the United States, and Afghanistan will hold video consultations to try and jump-start intra-Afghan peace talks. Zamir Kabulov, who is Russia’s presidential envoy on issues related to Afghanistan and the director of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s second department of Asia, told Russian
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty June 8, 2020 The U.S. special envoy for Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, has held a new round of talks in Qatar with the Taliban’s political chief. Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, a spokesman for the militants, said on Twitter late on June 7 that Khalilzad and Baradar discussed the release of prisoners and the start
Ayaz Gul VOA News June 6, 2020 ISLAMABAD – Officials in Afghanistan said Saturday a roadside bomb explosion in the northeastern border province of Badakhshan has killed at least eleven police personnel. The bombing comes as America’s peace envoy, Zalmay Khalilzad, has begun another visit to the region to push political reconciliation between Afghanistan’s warring
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty May 21, 2020 U.S. special peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad has urged a reduction in violence “by all sides” in Afghanistan, saying innocent Afghans are bearing too much of the brunt of the war. Khalilzad, the architect of a February agreement with the Taliban clearing the way for a U.S. troop withdrawal,
Michael Hughes: The Taliban and ISIS differ only in terms of geographic aspirations. They embrace similar extremist ideologies and envision a society regulated by a harsh religious code. They even share the same tactics – like suicide bombings – and recruit from each other’s flocks. Despite what U.S. officials want the world to believe, the
By Ayaz Gul VOA News | May 15, 2020 ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN – The United States said Friday it had “assessed” that Islamic State was behind deadly attacks on a maternity clinic and a funeral earlier this week in Afghanistan. “ISIS has demonstrated a pattern for favoring these types of heinous attacks against civilians and is a
Ayaz Gul VOA News May 8, 2020 ISLAMABAD – The Taliban said Friday it has conveyed to the United States the insurgent group is not holding an American hostage missing in Afghanistan. U.S. envoy for Afghan peace and reconciliation, Zalmay Khalilzad, has confirmed he called for the release of Mark Frerichs, a Navy veteran-turned contractor,
1TV:US Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad has met with Taliban deputy leader Mullah Baradar in Qatar, the group said on Thursday. Suhail Shaheen, a spokesman for Taliban’s political office in Doha, said that they discussed quick release of prisoners, launch of intra-Afghan talks and full implementation of their deal. Click here to read