The Taliban held a military parade for its “Islamic Emirate Army” in the city of Kandahar on Monday, featuring U.S.-made weapons, armored fighting vehicles, and helicopters seized after President Joe Biden’s disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Multiple suicide bombers attacked a Shiite mosque in Afghanistan’s Kandahar province during Friday prayer services. Local health officials said at least 33 people were killed and 73 wounded in the incident with casualty rates expected to rise further.
Taliban officials claimed on Friday that a viral video showing the destruction of Afghanistan’s historic Gereshk Fortress was a “misunderstanding.” The video clearly shows the walls of the ancient site coming down, but the Taliban claimed it was merely demolishing an unused prison located near the fortress.
A Taliban spokesman on Tuesday denied rumors that Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, recently named deputy prime minister of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, has been killed in a gun battle with a rival Taliban faction.
Taliban fighters on Wednesday gleefully paraded outside the city of Kandahar with captured American vehicles and weapons abandoned by President Joe Biden during his chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan, the Agence France-Press (AFP) reported, confirming the authenticity of images of the display.
Afghanistan’s Khaama Press reported Friday that Canada has dispatched “an unknown number of Special Forces” troops to Afghanistan to evacuate staffers from the embassy in Kabul.
Taliban insurgents claim they added the capitals of Herat, Kandahar, Badghis, and Helmand provinces to their string of conquests in about 12 hours on Thursday, moving on to attack government forces in the heart of two more provinces, Ghor and Zabul.
Afghanistan’s President Ashraf Ghani on Monday blamed the “sudden” withdrawal of U.S. troops for his country’s deteriorating security situation, as Taliban insurgents closed in on three provincial capitals and hit the Kandahar airport with rocket artillery.
A Taliban spokesman confirmed Thursday that Taliban thugs murdered comedian Nazar Mohammad in southern Afghanistan shortly after a video went viral that showed Mohammad being abducted and beaten.
The Long War Journal (LWJ) reported on Monday that during the six weeks that have elapsed since U.S. troops officially began withdrawing from Afghanistan, the Taliban has “seized control of 32 additional districts, their reach spanning nearly half of the country’s 34 provinces.”
The independent Pajhwok Afghan News agency published a survey on Saturday that found the Taliban now controls at least 52 percent of the territory in Afghanistan, and rules over 59 percent of the population.
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.
An American brigadier general suffered a gunshot wound during an insider attack last week in the Afghan Taliban birthplace of Kandahar, the United States-NATO mission confirmed Monday.
The Independent Election Commission in Afghanistan on Friday reportedly decided to postpone parliamentary elections in the Taliban birthplace of Kandahar province for a week in the wake of an attack that left two senior provincial officials dead.
The Taliban has claimed responsibility for staging an assassination attempt on Thursday carried out by a provincial governor’s bodyguard against the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan and Afghan security officials that ended up killing three people and wounding 13 others, including two Americans.
The U.S. taxpayer-backed Afghan government is reportedly funding schools and hospitals operated by the Taliban as the terrorist group attempts to establish itself as a legitimate administration in the large swathes of the country under its control.
Taliban jihadists in Afghanistan are increasingly targeting Islamic scholars, known as ulema, to silence dissent and criticism as the terrorist group continues to capture territory and expand its influence across the country.
Taliban jihadists have reportedly conquered the strategically important city of Sangin in Helmand province, allowing the terrorists to connect to the group’s birthplace Kandahar province.
Afghan police have arrested at least 14 Taliban jihadists carrying out terrorist activities disguised as members of the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF) and using fake identity cards linked to the troops.
The father of Ahmad Khan Rahami, the suspect linked to the bombings in New York and New Jersey last weekend, claims the FBI ignored his appeal to “keep an eye” on his “terrorist” son who was interested in jihadi groups like al-Qaeda, the New York Times (NYT) learned during a series of interviews with the elder Rahami this week.
The father of the suspect in the weekend bombings in New York and New Jersey is from the southern Afghan province of Kandahar, a known stronghold of the Taliban and its ally al Qaeda, and like Osama bin Laden was part of the Afghan mujahedeen who fought the Soviet Army, reports The New York Times (NYT).
Local officials in the southern Afghan province of Kandahar, long considered to be the birthplace of the Taliban, have reportedly banned radio stations from airing songs performed by women, according to various media outlets in the region.
Some Afghan security forces trained by the United States are defecting to the Taliban, CNN reports.
The Taliban has said it will not engage in peace talks with the Afghan government because it is winning in Afghanistan.
The U.S. Army, in a sign of military escalation, even as President Obama tries to draw down America’s military footprint, is deploying a battalion of 500 infantrymen to volatile Helmand province, a Taliban stronghold.
A Taliban siege of Kabul’s diplomatic quarter ended Saturday with explosions and gunfire, leaving four Afghan police, two Spanish nationals, and four of the Taliban attackers dead.
A large-scale Taliban assault on a key airport in southern Afghanistan ended late Wednesday, according to Afghan officials, who said that the deal toll his risen to 50.
At least 37 civilians were killed and 35 others wounded during a Taliban siege at a heavily fortified airport in the southern province of Kandahar in Afghanistan, according to Afghan Defense Ministry.
