Taliban - Page 38

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.

Predominantly Sunni jihadi groups carried out 187 terrorist attacks across nearly 30 countries on Ramadan this year, driving the number of fatalities up to 911 and injuries to 1,006 when compared to the casualties during the holiest month for Muslims in 2018, a Breitbart News database analysis shows.

The Afghan Taliban on Friday rejected reports that they had agreed to a repeat of last year’s unprecedented three-day ceasefire in honor of the Eid al-Fitr holiday that marks the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, noting the audio message about the truce is related to last year’s cessation of hostilities.

American Caitlan Coleman, whom the Taliban took hostage while she was pregnant and held her captive in Afghanistan for five years, placed blame for the ordeal on her Canadian husband and fellow captive, Joshua Boyle, saying his sympathies towards the group led to their travel to the country and her having three children in captivity, ABC News reported Wednesday.

The number of casualties at the hands of radical Islamists during this year’s Ramadan hit a grim milestone at the end of the holy month’s third week, with over 100 attacks in nearly 20 countries that killed 531 people and maimed 556 others, a Breitbart News count shows.

Johnny Spann, father of Mike Spann, recalled his son’s last moments with his then-nine-year-old daughter before deploying in 2001.

Johnny Spann, father of Mike Spann, described the early release of Islamic terrorist John Walker Lindh from federal prison as a “disgrace.”

Showtime is reportedly preparing a documentary on John Walker Lindh, the American convicted in 2002 of joining the Taliban to fight against the United States.

A U.S. federal prison is expected to release John Walker Lindh, an allegedly unrepentant jihadi known as the “American Taliban,” on Thursday, years before the end of his 20-year sentence reportedly due to good conduct and time served before his trial.

Islamic terrorists have carried out an estimated 76 attacks in nearly 15 countries since the beginning of Ramadan early this month, killing at least 364 people and injuring 404 others in the first two weeks of the holiest month for Muslims, a Breitbart News tally shows.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration reportedly indicated this week that it wants American taxpayers to foot the bill for Taliban expenses incurred during the ongoing peace talks to end the Afghanistan war, but a Democrat-controlled House committee denied the request.

A disgruntled security guard this week reportedly executed a prominent Taliban chief he was supposed to be protecting in eastern Afghanistan and proceeded to surrender to Afghan security forces, potentially signaling war weariness among the terrorists.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, in a meeting with America’s top diplomat, urged more cooperation between Moscow and Washington on reaching a peace settlement to end the war in Afghanistan, warning that the Taliban is “getting stronger,” a Kremlin presidential aide revealed Tuesday.

The Taliban’s chief negotiator in talks with the United States to end the more than 17-year-old war in Afghanistan recently declared the United States is “on the verge of defeat” and will soon withdraw willingly or by force, Voice of America (VOA) reported Monday.

Islamic terrorists, mainly the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL), carried out more than 30 attacks in over ten countries during the first week of the ongoing holy month of Ramadan, killing at least 166 people and injuring 155 others, a Breitbart News count shows.

Terrorist groups such as the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) and the Taliban in recent days made their annual call to arms as Ramadan approaches, claiming Allah exceptionally rewards martyrdom during the holy month.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on Friday announced the upcoming release of 175 Taliban narco-jihadis in an apparent gesture of goodwill towards the inclusion of Kabul in U.S.-led peace talks with the reluctant terrorist group.

The United States government has decided to either classify or do away with “almost every” metric for success or failure in Afghanistan, John Sopko, the U.S. Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), revealed this week.

Deadly clashes between jihadi rivals the Taliban and the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) have intensified this week in eastern Afghanistan’s Nangarhar and Kunar provinces, reportedly leaving several terrorists dead and displacing hundreds of families.

Authorities in Pakistan arrested a man on Tuesday for allegedly disseminating false rumors on social media that the anti-polio vaccine led to fainting and vomiting, a move that prompted concerned parents to rush 25,000 children to the hospital and a mob of about 500 people to set fire to a local health center.

An unprecedented round of Qatar-based peace negotiations between the Afghan government and the Taliban scheduled to start Friday was reportedly “postponed indefinitely” on Thursday over the narco-jihadis’ objections to size of the Kabul delegation.

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.

The Afghan National Army (ANA), backed by U.S.-NATO troops, has killed an estimated 200 Taliban narco-jihadis in Afghanistan’s northern provinces, including 15 top commanders, since the terrorist group launched its so-called annual spring offensive on Friday, a local military spokesman revealed on Tuesday.

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.

An explosion in Afghanistan, claimed by the Taliban on Monday, killed three U.S. Marines and injured another three.

Residents in the opium-rich Taliban stronghold Helmand, Afghanistan’s largest province, reportedly expressed outrage at the arrest of two female al-Qaeda jihadis by local authorities and demanded their immediate release, Khaama Press (KP) reported Tuesday.

The Taliban reportedly used the cover of darkness on early Thursday to launch a massive siege against a government compound and an army base in the Afghan province of Badghis, killing at least 30 soldiers and police officers in a sign that the terrorist group is intensifying its annual spring offensive amid ongoing negotiations to end to the conflict.

U.S. President Donald Trump this week condemned the ongoing Afghanistan war that has come at a tremendous cost of blood and treasure for Americans as “unfortunate and ridiculous.”

Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), a progressive Democrat, called for Republicans and Democrats alike to put their differences aside and back President Donald Trump’s efforts to withdraw the United States from the war in Afghanistan.

The United States must tackle the Taliban’s top source of funding in Afghanistan – deadly opium and its heroin derivative – whether there is a peace agreement or not, U.S. Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) John Sopko told Breitbart News on Thursday.

A dispute erupted on Twitter this week between rival neighbors Pakistan and Afghanistan over U.S.-led peace talks with the Taliban, prompting the Pakistani minister for human rights to dismiss the American ambassador in Kabul as “little pigmy.” 

A potential U.S.-Taliban peace deal “will likely” fail to prevent Afghanistan from grappling with terrorists and descending into a “narco-state,” the U.S. Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) a watchdog agency, declared in a new report issued Thursday.

The five high-risk Taliban commanders released from the U.S. military prison in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, by the previous administration in exchange for Bowe Bergdahl who was captured by the terrorist group after deserting his post in Afghanistan are now reportedly negotiating peace in the war-ravaged country with their former captors.

Taliban narco-jihadis killed at least 68 members of the U.S.-backed Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF) and injured 38 others in fierce clashes over the weekend in the terrorist group’s opium-rich stronghold of Helmand, Afghanistan’s largest province located along the Pakistani border.

The U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) over the weekend identified the two American soldiers killed on Saturday by an alleged “Taliban insider” donning an Afghan military uniform as the United States and the narco-jihadi group continue peace negotiations to end the more than 17-year-old war in Afghanistan.

The election body of Afghanistan decided this week to delay the country’s presidential election for a second time — to September 28 from its original scheduled date of April 20 and first delay to July 20.