Taliban leaders are reportedly putting together a team to negotiate with the United States and signaling which concessions they will require to make such talks possible, prominently including a release of Taliban prisoners taken during the 17-year war in Afghanistan.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis, accompanied by Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford, made a surprise visit to Afghanistan on Friday for meetings with President Ashraf Ghani to discuss security issues and the prospect of peace talks with the Taliban.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has told Germany that it should not become a “fortress” to his nation’s migrants, reminding the country that Europe is in demographic decline and needs foreign labour.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani announced a ceasefire plan on Sunday, but the Taliban promptly kidnapped 170 people from buses in an act of highway banditry. On Monday morning, Ghani all but abandoned the ceasefire and instructed his armed forces to continue operations against the Taliban until the terrorist group scales back its violent activities.
A new measure unveiled in Afghanistan in July to prohibit government health personnel from performing “invasive and medically meaningless vaginal and anal exams” on women and girls to ascertain whether they are “virgins” is a step in the right direction to protect women’s rights, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said this week in a statement welcoming the policy.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made a surprise visit to Afghanistan on Monday while returning from his trip to Asia. At a news conference with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, Pompeo stressed that Kabul must take the lead in peace talks with the Taliban.
Taliban narco-jihadists continued to carry out cruel and inhumane punishment last year in the areas they control across Afghanistan, including stoning a woman to death for an extramarital affair and “cutting off the hands and feet of suspected criminals,” according to the U.S. Department of State (DOS).
China reportedly joined the European Union in urging the Taliban to welcome Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s U.S.-backed offer to declare a ceasefire and recognize the narco-jihadist group as a legitimate political movement.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani offered the Taliban political legitimacy and peace talks on Wednesday, but the Taliban indicated it prefers to keep fighting until the government is overthrown, American forces leave the country, and their theocratic rule returns.
The Afghan National Army (ANA) would not last more than six months, and the Kabul government would collapse, if the United States were to withdraw its financial and military support, declared Afghan President Ashraf Ghani.
U.S. troops and their NATO allies will be able to leave Afghanistan “within four years,” at which time the struggling Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF) will be able to protect their country on their own, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani tells BBC.
U.S. President Donald Trump is reportedly urging his Afghan counterpart to shut down the Taliban’s self-described “political office” in Doha, arguing that it has failed to accomplish its intended purpose of serving as a conduit for peace negotiations.
U.S. President Donald Trump and his Afghan counterpart have expressed support for having American companies mine rare earth mineral resources in war-ravaged Afghanistan, valued by the Pentagon at nearly $1 trillion in 2010.
Former Afghan President Hamid Karzai issued a statement on Wednesday declaring he “very strongly opposes” the strategy announced by U.S. President Donald Trump because it is “against peace and the national interest of Afghanistan.”
The U.S. military using the largest non-nuclear bomb in its arsenal to target Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) jihadists in Afghanistan is “an immense atrocity against the Afghan people,” proclaimed the former president of the country.
India pledged another billion dollars in aid for Afghanistan this week, while facing heightened terrorism concerns after the defection of 22 Indian nationals to the Islamic State.
When Seddique Mateen, the father of Orlando mass murderer Omar Mateen, turned up at a Hillary Clinton rally in Florida on Tuesday, the Clinton campaign scrambled to tell the media he wasn’t an invited guest, and they didn’t even know he was there, although he somehow managed to get a plum seat close to the candidate.
Afghanistan will use biometrics to verify the existence of every member of the Afghan National Defense and Security Force (ANDSF), vowed the country’s president.
Pakistan is funding the Afghanistan-based terrorist activities of the regional Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) branch, Afghan political experts have declared, echoing a national security adviser for Afghan President Ashraf Ghani.
Islamabad has refused to heed the Afghan government’s demands to take military action against Taliban commanders operating in Pakistan, which is pushing for a negotiated resolution to the 15 years of war in neighboring Afghanistan, Voice of America (VOA) reports.
Afghanistan has reportedly voiced criticism towards neighboring Pakistan for allowing a delegation from the Taliban “terrorist organization” to visit Islamabad.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Obama administration insisted that it continues to support the peace talks between the Taliban and the government of Afghanistan even after the terrorist group restated preconditions prior to ceasing hostilities.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani vowed, in an exclusive interview with BBC, to “bury” the growing Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) branch in Afghanistan, known as the Khorasan Province (ISIL-K).
Taliban jihadists in Afghanistan reportedly warned media organizations Thursday not to promote immorality and foreign cultures.
