China’s Global Times state-run newspaper lamented in a column Sunday that a full American withdrawal from Afghanistan would pose “grave challenges” to China’s ruling Communist Party, whereas U.S. investment in Afghanistan’s economic stability could yield economic benefits to China.
Unidentified attackers bombed a mosque in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, on Friday, killing at least 12 people including the imam offering services.
U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price encouraged the government of Afghanistan and the Taliban to “engage in serious negotiations” to bring peace to Afghanistan on Tuesday, urging them to work together against the Islamic State the day before.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry on Sunday blamed the United States for the surge of violence in Afghanistan, including Saturday’s bombing massacre at a girls’ school in Kabul, because the U.S. was supposedly irresponsible to withdraw its forces so “abruptly” from Afghanistan after twenty years of deployment.
A spokesman for the Taliban announced Sunday night the group ordered its forces to pause offensive operations for the three days of Eid al-Fitr, the end of the Muslim holiday of Ramadan.
BRUSSELS (AP) – European Union foreign ministers on Monday debated ways to maintain support for Afghanistan’s beleaguered government after a brutal weekend attack on a girls’ school underscored deep concern that violence will spread as U.S.-led troops leave the country.
“Unidentified gunmen” killed a prominent Afghan journalist on Thursday following a declaration by the Taliban that it would soon begin targeting members of the media with which it has disagreements.
A spokesman for the Taliban marked May 1, the deadline for the American military’s withdrawal from Afghanistan to which former President Donald Trump agreed, by threatening attacks on U.S. troops in response to Biden not respecting the deadline.
United States-led NATO forces began officially withdrawing from Afghanistan on Saturday, May 1, to meet President Joe Biden’s troop drawdown deadline of September 11, 2021, with officials warning the Taliban against attacks on the troops as they leave.
Russian state media reported Thursday that an “extended Troika conference on Afghanistan reconciliation” would be held in Doha, Qatar, on Friday — the day before the May 1 deadline for American and NATO forces to withdraw.
Afghanistan has long been infamous for its opium poppies, but law enforcement agencies across the world are warning of a new boom in the Afghan drug trade fueled by methamphetamines.
Afghan news outlets, citing CNN, reported Tuesday that the administration of President Joe Biden would soon deploy another 650 troops to Afghanistan, where Biden expanded the U.S. presence through at least September in an order this month.
The tempo of Taliban bombings in Afghanistan is increasing as the United States prepares to withdraw its forces in September, including a Monday rocket attack on the governor’s compound in Kunar province that killed at least 16 children during a religious ceremony.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced this week that the administration of President Joe Biden expects to immediately invest “nearly $300 million” in aid to Afghanistan, potentially just the beginning in what Blinken has advertised as heightened civilian engagement in the country.
The Global Times, a Chinese government propaganda newspaper, condemned President Joe Biden on Wednesday for announcing he would withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan in September.
The chief of the Pentagon’s Central Command said on Tuesday that the U.S. military is planning to keep troops near Afghanistan after the delayed withdrawal planned for September 11, 2021.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), in a series of tweets on Sunday, expressed his disagreement with former President Donald Trump’s statement applauding President Joe Biden’s plan to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan after almost 20 years of deployment there.
An official admitted only “low to moderate confidence” in the claim that Russians put bounties on US troops in Afghanistan.
Afghanistan will continue working with its “U.S./NATO partners” after the U.S. withdraws troops from the country in September, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said Wednesday.
A statement from the Afghan jihadist organization the Taliban condemned President Joe Biden on Thursday for delaying the withdrawal of American troops from the country, noting the administration of President Donald Trump agreed to leave the country by May 1, but Biden would keep troops there for another four months.
The head of NATO, Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, confirmed Thursday that the coalition would begin withdrawing from Afghanistan on May 1, the original deadline set in a deal brokered by the administration of President Donald Trump, but extended this week under successor Joe Biden.
Neo-conservatives and foreign policy establishment figures unsurprisingly blasted the Biden Administration for its plans to continue the Trump administration’s drawdown of American forces from Afghanistan, and they issued dire warnings if President Joe Biden were to go through with it.
Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said Tuesday on Fox News Channel’s “Hannity” that President Joe Biden was “paving the way for another 9/11” with his reported pledge for a full withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan by September 11, 2021.
Neoconservative House Republican Conference Chair Liz Cheney (R-WY) has slammed President Joe Biden’s reported plan to remove the remaining 2,500 U.S. troops from Afghanistan by September.
A spokesman for the governor of Badakhshan said Taliban forces launched a lethal assault against the Afghan National Army (ANA) on Tuesday morning, the first day of Ramadan, killing three government soldiers in the province, the Khaama Press reported.
The Biden administration is signaling that it will leave several thousand American troops in Afghanistan past a May 1st withdrawal date that was negotiated with the Taliban under the Trump administration.
The legitimate government of Afghanistan is considering a power-sharing agreement with the Taliban, but not unless the Taliban acknowledges its legitimacy, a senior official said this weekend.
Human rights groups condemned the Education Ministry of Afghanistan on Wednesday after issuing an order that forbids girls over the age of 12 from singing the Afghan national anthem at events “held in the presence of men.”
Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Sen. Bob Menendez’s says he has concern over the Taliban not fulfilling their obligations under the deal they signed in 2020 with the Trump administration.
U.S. President Joe Biden is pursuing the same goal as his predecessor to accelerate the end of America’s longest war in Afghanistan between U.S.-backed local forces and Taliban narco-jihadis, a State Department spokesperson indicated on Monday
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken sent a letter to Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on Sunday urging him to take on a more “constructive” attitude in talks with the Taliban and warning President Joe Biden may still adhere to a May 1 deadline to fully withdraw American troops from the country.
The United States Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), an agency that monitors U.S. spending in the country, found over $2 billion in wasted taxpayers’ dollars in its latest review, the Afghan news agency Khaama Press reported Monday.
The Afghanistan Ministry of Defense (MoD) announced the U.S. Army presented it with “combat equipment,” including 640 military vehicles, in a Wednesday ceremony.
The Taliban issued an official statement on Tuesday warning leaders in the terrorist group they will face internal punishment if they allow non-Afghan citizens into the group or otherwise “harbor” them.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told allies at the NATO defense ministerial on Thursday that the administration of President Joe Biden would not “undertake a hasty or disorderly withdrawal from Afghanistan,” suggesting a reconsideration of the May 2021 withdrawal date set by predecessor Donald Trump.
Zamir Kabulov, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s envoy to Afghanistan, bizarrely claimed on Wednesday that the Taliban is “flawlessly” adhering to the terms of the peace agreement negotiated in Qatar, while the United States is violating it.
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced Tuesday that the last of her country’s military forces will leave Afghanistan in May, concluding a deployment that began 20 years ago.
The head of the Taliban, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, published an open letter to the United States Tuesday urging it to withdraw its military from Afghanistan, as the administration of President Donald Trump had committed to doing in a peace deal that also required the Taliban to stop associating with international terrorist groups.
At least 30 Taliban members died after an explosive device detonated during a bomb-making tutorial in Afghanistan’s northern Balkh province over the weekend, the Defense Post reported on Tuesday.
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.
