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.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration privately requested a formal apology from a top Afghan official who accused the United States of sidelining Kabul during the ongoing negotiations with the Taliban to end the war in Afghanistan, NBC News reported Wednesday.
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.
Afghanistan, which claims it would collapse without assistance from its top international donor the United States, on Sunday pledged $1 million to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) that provides assistance to Palestinian refugees while blasting President Donald Trump’s administration for suspending aid to the international body’s program.
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 U.S. and the Taliban reportedly agreed over the weekend on a draft framework for a peace accord in which the American-NATO-led foreign troops would withdraw from Afghanistan.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani vowed to give his life for peace with the Taliban in a speech delivered Sunday after he officially joined at least 14 other candidates expected to run for the presidency during the July 20 elections, including the notorious Gulbudddin Hekmatyar, known as the “butcher of Kabul.”
Afghanistan reportedly kickstarted a 17-day registration process on Thursday for candidates seeking to run for the delayed presidential elections this year, rescheduled from April 20 to July 20 over security and other concerns.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani revealed Thursday that he had received the Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, Ali Shamkhani, in his office, shortly after reports verified that Iranian government officials have been in touch with the Taliban amid peace talks with the U.S.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani claimed on Monday that the Taliban are losing the war, insisting that Afghanistan is not seeking a negotiated peace “from a position of weakness.”
The Afghan Taliban cautioned U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration over the weekend against engaging in negotiations to end the 17-year-old war with “fake” insurgent delegations, stressing that such meetings could derail “any possible genuine process of dialogue.”
Multiple Taliban attacks on police and military bases and checkpoints in different parts of Afghanistan reportedly left at least 27 members of the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF) dead, Afghan officials revealed on Monday.
Nearly 17 years after the Afghanistan War began, there are few signs of progress and indications the Taliban is increasing its hold onto power in Afghanistan, despite continued U.S. support for the Afghan government.
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.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis, accompanied by Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford, made a surprise visit to Afghanistan on Friday for meetings with President Ashraf Ghani to discuss security issues and the prospect of peace talks with the Taliban.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has told Germany that it should not become a “fortress” to his nation’s migrants, reminding the country that Europe is in demographic decline and needs foreign labour.
Reports on Monday indicated Taliban leadership has rejected Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s offer of a three-month ceasefire coinciding with the Muslim holiday of Eid. The Taliban also denied responsibility for a rocket attack on Kabul during a televised speech by President Ghani on Tuesday.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani announced a ceasefire plan on Sunday, but the Taliban promptly kidnapped 170 people from buses in an act of highway banditry. On Monday morning, Ghani all but abandoned the ceasefire and instructed his armed forces to continue operations against the Taliban until the terrorist group scales back its violent activities.
Contents: Afghanistan’s president Ghani announces ceasefire with Taliban; Taliban says no peace in Afghanistan until foreign ‘occupation’ withdraws
The Taliban and its Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) foes have increasingly clashed in Afghanistan during the last week as the United States intensified its efforts to convince Taliban jihadis to bring America’s most protracted war to an end.
The U.S.-led military command in Afghanistan is refuting reports that its top commander said the U.S. is ready to engage in direct talks with the Taliban.
The Trump administration has expressed a willingness to engage in direct negotiations with the Taliban to end the nearly 17-year-old Afghan war, marking a significant shift in U.S. policy long sought by the terrorist group, the New York Times (NYT) reported Sunday.
A new measure unveiled in Afghanistan in July to prohibit government health personnel from performing “invasive and medically meaningless vaginal and anal exams” on women and girls to ascertain whether they are “virgins” is a step in the right direction to protect women’s rights, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said this week in a statement welcoming the policy.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made a surprise visit to Afghanistan on Monday while returning from his trip to Asia. At a news conference with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, Pompeo stressed that Kabul must take the lead in peace talks with the Taliban.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, in an op-ed published Wednesday, again supplicated the Taliban terrorists to embrace his U.S.-backed offer of a truce and official acceptance of the group as a political organization, stressing that he is willing to “negotiate” with the Taliban’s chief “anywhere he wants.”
The Afghan Taliban chief, Hibatullah Akhundzada, renewed calls this week for direct discussions with the United States to end the nearly 17-year-old war — this time in a statement personally signed by the leader stressing that the withdrawal of “occupying forces” is the “only path” towards peace.
The U.S.-NATO coalition is expected to adhere to Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s unilateral Ramadan truce with the Taliban, announced on Thursday without the backing of the terrorist group.
Taliban jihadists released a statement last week offering a “life of peace” through “amnesty” to the very same U.S.-backed Afghan National Security Forces (ANDSF) they have massacred for years if they renounce their ranks, citing the “very high number of casualties” sustained by the troops as a reason to abandon American support.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s offer of political recognition and a ceasefire to Taliban narco-terrorists is the “best opportunity to end” the nearly 17-year-old war in Afghanistan, U.S. Gen. John Nicholson, the top commander of American and NATO troops, declared on Monday.
Taliban narco-jihadists continued to carry out cruel and inhumane punishment last year in the areas they control across Afghanistan, including stoning a woman to death for an extramarital affair and “cutting off the hands and feet of suspected criminals,” according to the U.S. Department of State (DOS).
China reportedly joined the European Union in urging the Taliban to welcome Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s U.S.-backed offer to declare a ceasefire and recognize the narco-jihadist group as a legitimate political movement.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani offered the Taliban political legitimacy and peace talks on Wednesday, but the Taliban indicated it prefers to keep fighting until the government is overthrown, American forces leave the country, and their theocratic rule returns.
The Afghan National Army (ANA) would not last more than six months, and the Kabul government would collapse, if the United States were to withdraw its financial and military support, declared Afghan President Ashraf Ghani.
Vice President Mike Pence made an unannounced visit to Afghanistan on Thursday to visit President Ashraf Ghani and Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah, as well as United States military troops stationed there, revealing his trip only after five and a half hours on the ground in the country.
Contents: India begins shipping wheat to Afghanistan through Iran’s Chabahar port; In retaliation, Afghanistan bans entry of Pakistan trucks; Afghanistan-Pakistan Transit Trade Agreement (APTTA) – conduit of smuggling
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson arrived outside Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday for an unannounced visit.
U.S. troops and their NATO allies will be able to leave Afghanistan “within four years,” at which time the struggling Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF) will be able to protect their country on their own, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani tells BBC.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, echoing the position of the United States, says the only “two options” available for the Taliban at this juncture in the 16-year-old war in Afghanistan are to continue pursuing their terror campaign and be annihilated or renounce violence and embrace peace.
U.S. President Donald Trump is reportedly urging his Afghan counterpart to shut down the Taliban’s self-described “political office” in Doha, arguing that it has failed to accomplish its intended purpose of serving as a conduit for peace negotiations.
U.S. President Donald Trump and his Afghan counterpart have expressed support for having American companies mine rare earth mineral resources in war-ravaged Afghanistan, valued by the Pentagon at nearly $1 trillion in 2010.
