The Taliban on Monday claimed to have captured Panjshir Valley, stronghold of the anti-Taliban resistance movement headed by Ahmad Massoud and former Afghan vice president Amrullah Saleh. The National Resistance Front (NRF) disputed the Taliban’s claims and vowed to continue fighting.
Former President of Afghanistan Hamid Karzai, whose post-9/11 tenure was marked by extreme corruption, met with senior Taliban leaders Wednesday to discuss the creation of an “inclusive” government following the Taliban’s conquest of the nation this weekend.
Former Afghan President Hamid Karzai is reportedly cooperating with the Taliban in building a new government and securing the peaceful transition of power.
Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen said on Friday there will be no peace in Afghanistan until President Ashraf Ghani leaves power and a new national government acceptable to the Taliban is installed in Kabul.
Officials in Baghlan, Afghanistan, told the national outlet Tolo News on Tuesday that incessant fighting between government forces and the Taliban jihadist group left over 100 civilian casualties in that district in the past month, most of them deaths and many of them children.
Afghanistan’s Tolo News reported on Monday that an Afghan delegation to Washington has been told the United States will provide 37 Black Hawk helicopters and two A-29 Super Tucano fixed-wing attack planes to Kabul for deployment against advancing Taliban forces.
The head of Afghanistan’s High Council for National Reconciliation — its agency for relations with the Taliban — warned on Tuesday that violence in the country has increased during peace talks with the jihadist organization.
Government officials in Afghanistan confirmed over 50 casualties in several attacks by the Taliban jihadist organization on Thursday, strikes that occurred as the Taliban attempts to broker a peace deal with both Kabul and the U.S. government.
Representatives of the Taliban jihadist organization told Afghan media outlets on Sunday that the goal of their participation in peace talks held this weekend in Doha, Qatar, with the legitimate Afghan government and the United States was to negotiate the liberation of Taliban jihadists and a return of Islamic law to the country.
DOHA, Qatar — Secretary of State Mike Pompeo urged Afghans not to squander an opportunity for lasting peace in remarks to the summit between Afghan government and Taliban leaders here that represents the beginning of peace negotiations.
Afghanistan’s President Ashraf Ghani on Sunday issued a statement that he will respond to a ceasefire “gesture of goodwill” from the Taliban by expediting the release of 2,000 Taliban prisoners.
In his address for the Eid al-Fitr holiday, Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada – supreme leader of the Taliban as well as one of its top clerics – promised equal rights for men and women under fundamentalist Taliban rule after the U.S. withdraws from Afghanistan. He also offered a general amnesty to the Taliban’s enemies, provided they “end their opposition” to the “establishment of an Islamic government.”
Afghanistan’s President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani on Wednesday signed a decree to release 1,500 Taliban prisoners beginning on March 14, a step the Taliban insists is necessary before talks between the Islamist insurgents and the Afghan government can continue.
“We have more votes in this election,” challenger Abdullah Abdullah claimed on Monday, declaring victory over incumbent Afghan President Ashraf Ghani in the weekend elections.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani vowed to give his life for peace with the Taliban in a speech delivered Sunday after he officially joined at least 14 other candidates expected to run for the presidency during the July 20 elections, including the notorious Gulbudddin Hekmatyar, known as the “butcher of Kabul.”
Chief Executive of Afghanistan Abdullah Abdullah told the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday that Kabul in the last year has made an “unprecedented” offer of unconditional peace talks to the Taliban as well as the chance to operate as a legitimate political group.
Vice President Mike Pence made an unannounced visit to Afghanistan on Thursday to visit President Ashraf Ghani and Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah, as well as United States military troops stationed there, revealing his trip only after five and a half hours on the ground in the country.
Contents: Three suicide bombers target Kabul Afghanistan funeral for previous victims; Afghanistan seethes with renewed anger over the attacks
Contents: Five people killed in clashes with police in anti-government rally in Kabul, Afghanistan; Kabul bombing brings back memories of bloody 1990s Afghan civil war
Afghanistan is combating forces of the “devil and darkness” intent on destroying humanity, declared the country’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Abdullah Abdullah as he called for increasing support to the U.S.-backed Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF).
Contents: Afghan Taliban launches ‘Spring Fighting Season’ with massive Kabul explosion; China tests its DF-41 long-range nuclear missile with multiple warheads; Turkey threatens to cancel migrant deal unless visa restrictions are lifted by June; Violence surges in Syria as ‘peace talks’ collapse becomes official
Contents: John Kerry instructs Afghanistan officials how to run their government; Troubles mount for Afghanistan government as US withdrawal looms
American troops in Afghanistan raided the home of a local anti-Taliban commander and proceeded to blow up a munition cache inside his home, an action that shows U.S. forces are carrying out combat missions beyond their stated train, advise, and assist role, reports The New York Times (NYT).
ISIS claims responsibility of major terrorist attack in east Afghanistan; Afghanistan becomes more ungovernable as US-led coalition withdraws; Greece scrapes the bottom of the barrel as bankruptcy talk increases
