Kabul

The Chinese government is trying to organize peace talks between rival factions in Afghanistan, including the Taliban, which sent a delegation to Beijing last month to meet with Chinese officials.

European Union officials called Sunday for a ceasefire in Afghanistan, saying the breakdown in talks between the US and the Taliban presented an opportunity to push anew for a truce.

Afghan commandos and an intelligence unit over the weekend raided a Taliban warehouse used to store explosives expected to be used by jihadis from al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) to carry out attacks in Kabul and other “major cities.”

Taliban narco-jihadis claimed responsibility for a suicide attack Tuesday that killed at least 24 people and wounded 30 others at an election campaign rally held by Afghan President Ashraf Ghani.

A rocket attack was launched in central Kabul near the U.S. embassy in Afghanistan on Wednesday, the 18th anniversary of the 9/11 attack. It was the first major terrorist attack in Kabul since President Donald Trump announced that negotiations with the Taliban are “dead.”

President Donald Trump said Monday that talks with the Taliban about peace in Afghanistan were over, citing recent attacks.

President Donald Trump announced Sunday that he had canceled a secret meeting with major Taliban leaders at Camp David. He said that the Taliban was trying to “build false leverage” in the ongoing peace talks.

Afghanistan’s president this week vowed to take “revenge” and “eliminate” Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) safe havens in the country after the group killed 63 civilians at a wedding, including children.

President Ashraf Ghani of Afghanistan announced on Monday the release of nearly three dozen Taliban prisoners in a bid to convince the reluctant terrorist group to engage in peace negotiations with Kabul.

Taliban narco-jihadis claimed responsibility for an attack in the Afghan capital of Kabul that killed at least 14 and maimed nearly 150 others Wednesday.

The Afghan Taliban this week pledged to violently disrupt the upcoming presidential elections in Afghanistan at any cost even as the narco-jihadis continue to negotiate a U.S.-backed “political reconciliation” pact with Kabul.

U.S.-backed Afghan President Ashraf Ghani this week again offered the Taliban the opportunity to participate in presidential elections if they agree to peace talks with Kabul.

Iran denounced U.S. President Donald Trump’s recent comments about being able to demolish Afghanistan in ten days if he wanted to win the war as “racist and unacceptable.”

The Afghan government has asked for “clarification” on U.S. President Donald Trump’s remarks about being able to wipe Afghanistan “off the face of the earth” if he really wanted to win the war there.

Taliban terrorists carried out brutal coordinated attacks in Kabul on Monday, including a car bombing and subsequent militant assault that left at least 40 people dead.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration hopes to have a peace deal with the Taliban to end the war in Afghanistan “before September 1,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said, touting “progress” in the negotiations the day before the terrorist group killed two American service members on Wednesday.

The Taliban’s political chief visited China days ahead of what some news outlets have described as a crucial round of peace negotiations with the United States — the seventh in about a year, scheduled to take place in Qatar early this week. 

The Afghan government confirmed this week that it released 490 Taliban prisoners and is expected to release hundreds more to convince the narco-jihadi organization to engage in peace negotiations with Kabul.

Russia on Wednesday is expected to host an intra-Afghan conference in Moscow including a Taliban delegation and mainly anti-President Ashraf Ghani politicians to discuss a negotiated political settlement between the terrorist group and Kabul to end of the war raging since October 2001.

A general who served as a senior adviser to Afghan President Ashraf Ghani leveled accusations claiming the current administration is engaged in widespread corruption, namely the exchange of sexual favors for government posts, several news outlets reported this week.

An Afghan Taliban spokesman on Tuesday repudiated a news report claiming the group is planning to include women in its delegation expected to continue negotiations with the United States this month to end the more than 17-year-old war, claiming that the media outlet “misconstrued” his remarks.

Taliban narco-jihadists on Friday announced the launch of their “Victory” spring offensive amid ongoing U.S.-led efforts to convince the terrorist group to agree to a political settlement with Kabul to end the more than 17-year-old war in Afghanistan.

The National Security Adviser of Afghanistan on Thursday accused U.S. President Donald Trump’s envoy in charge of peace negotiations with the Taliban of “delegitimizing” and “weakening” the Kabul government during the talks to serve his ambitions of one day running the war-ravaged country.

Taliban narco-jihadis turned down Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s offer on Sunday to open a political post in Afghanistan, including in the group’s opium-rich birthplace of Kandahar, saying they want international recognition of their existing political office in the Qatari capital of Doha instead.

The government of Afghanistan lost more territory to the Taliban in recent months, further plunging the number of districts under the control or influence of Kabul to unprecedented lows, a U.S. watchdog agency revealed in its latest report to Congress on Thursday.

Taliban narco-jihadis on Tuesday issued a statement threatening to pull the plug on peace negotiations with the United States, likely over America’s insistence that Kabul participates in the talks, a demand long rejected by the terrorist group.

A terrorist suicide attack on a gathering of top religious figures in Kabul, Afghanistan, marking the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad this week killed at least 50 people and wounded 72 others.

The number of Afghan districts under the control or influence of Kabul “reached the lowest level” since the American government began keeping records in November 2015, the U.S. Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), a watchdog agency appointed by Congress, reported on Thursday.

The Taliban reportedly claimed to be behind Wednesday’s crash of an Afghan army helicopter near Afghanistan’s border with Iran that killed all 25 people on board, including senior officials.

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.