Tag Archives: Taliban

The Taliban militant group has captured a key district in Afghanistan’s central province of Wardak, despite the announcement of a three-day ceasefire for the Eid al-Fitr holiday. The militants seized the Nerkh district, located around 40 kilometers from the Afghan capital, Kabul, on Tuesday, pushing government forces out. Afghan Interior …

The Taliban militant group has declared a three-day ceasefire across Afghanistan in observance of the Eid al-Fitr holiday, two days after 50 people, mostly young girls, were killed in bomb blasts outside a school in Kabul. A statement released by the Taliban on Monday said the group had instructed its …

At least 150 people, many of them young women, were injured in the attack in a Shia neighbourhood of the city. The death toll from an explosion near a school in a Shia district of west Kabul has risen to 58, Afghan officials said on Sunday, with doctors struggling to …

A heavy explosion rattled the Dasht-e-Barchi area in Kabul city on Saturday afternoon, sources said. The Ministry of Interior (MoI) stated that a blast happened close to Sayeed-ul-Shuhada School in PD13 of Kabul city at around 4:27 pm Saturday. At least 25 people were killed and 50 others wounded in …

The Afghan government released dozens more Taliban prisoners on Thursday, beginning the final phase of a detainee swap agreed in a deal between the U.S. and the insurgent group. Officials said 80 men were allowed to walk out of prison this week. The release of the remaining 320 or so …

A prominent women’s rights advocate and member of the Afghan team tasked with negotiating with the Taliban sustained minor injuries in an attack in Kabul by unknown gunmen, officials said on Saturday. They described the attack on Fawzia Koofi, a former lawmaker, as an assassination attempt. It was condemned by …

Afghanistan agreed on Sunday to release 400 “hard-core” Taliban prisoners, paving the way for the beginning of peace talks aimed at ending more than 19 years of war. Under election-year pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump for a deal allowing him to bring home American troops, the war-torn country’s grand …

An Islamic State terrorist group attack on a prison in eastern Afghanistan holding hundreds of its members raged on Monday after killing at least 21 people in fighting overnight, a local official said. Another 43 people have been wounded in the attack that began late Sunday when an Islamic State …

At least three bombs exploded outside a jail compound in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad on Sunday, officials said. Sohrab Qaderi, a provincial council member in Jalalabad, said a huge car bomb explosion was followed by at least two smaller bomb blasts outside a government-run prison, and that police …

In a rare peace gesture, Taliban militants have said they will not conduct any “operations” for three days starting on Friday, to let their fighters mark one of the holiest Muslim holidays following a recent upsurge of violence. The Afghan militants were “instructed” not to launch any attacks between July …

A teenage girl has become a hero in Afghanistan for fighting off a Taliban attack, killing two militants with the AK-47 her father taught her to use before he was killed by the insurgent group. Now Qamar Gul, who is about 15, has been invited to the presidential palace and …

The leader of the Taliban has reshuffled his team of negotiators ahead of peace talks with the Afghan government, adding four close aides to the group, sources in the movement said Saturday. Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada made the appointments to strengthen his control over the team, a Taliban commander, based at …

As violence surges across the country, Afghan security forces on Friday said at least 72 Taliban militants, including four top commanders, have been killed in operations in three provinces. In a statement, the Afghan National Army said 32 more insurgents were also injured in ground and air offensives in northern …

Afghanistan is to release more Taliban prisoners in the hope of getting peace talks going, a government spokesman said on Thursday, after the insurgent group provided the government with a revised list of several hundred of their detainees. Disagreement over about 600 prisoners from a total of 5,000 the Taliban …

A Taliban suicide bomber detonated an explosive-packed military vehicle on the approach to the provincial governor’s residence and police headquarters in the Afghan province of Kandahar on Wednesday, killing at least three people, authorities said. Bloodshed is escalating anew in Afghanistan even as the United States tries to broker a …

The U.N. mission in Afghanistan said its findings indicate the Afghan military had mistakenly fired the mortars this week at a busy market in southern Helmand province that inflicted heavy civilian casualties. A car bombing and mortar shells struck the market in Sangin district on Monday, killing 23 people, including …

The Taliban says it has held a video conference call with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo during which the militant group reaffirmed its commitment to the peace process in Afghanistan. Spokesman Suhail Shaheen said in a tweet on June 30 that the Taliban and the top U.S. diplomat held …

Top officials in the White House were aware in early 2019 of classified intelligence indicating Russia was secretly offering bounties to the Taliban for the deaths of Americans, a full year earlier than has been previously reported, according to U.S. officials with direct knowledge of the intelligence. The assessment was …

At least 30  civilians were killed in Afghanistan’s southern Helmand province after rockets fell on a cattle market. Afghan government and Taliban officials immediately traded blame for the deaths on Monday in the open-air weekly cattle market in the Sangin district. Hundreds of villagers from neighbouring districts had gathered to …

The White House on Saturday denied that President Donald Trump was briefed on reported US intelligence that Russia’s military offered bounties to Taliban-linked militants to kill US troops in Afghanistan, with Democratic rival Joe Biden criticizing Donald Trump for failing to take action against Moscow. White House Press Secretary Kayleigh …