Four people were killed and three others injured in two separate attacks in eastern Nangarhar province on Thursday, an official said.

Security officials on Thursday claimed 52 Taliban militants have been killed and 16 others wounded during ongoing operations in three districts of southern Kandahar province. The operations are underway in Babran area of Arghandab, Khyber mountain of Panjwai district and Yaro Kala area of Dand district.

Pakistan’s Lashkar-e-Islam militant group head Mangal Bagh has been killed in a bomb blast in the Achin district of eastern Nangarhar province, a well-placed security source said on Thursday.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken confirmed Wednesday night that the Biden administration will retain the US Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad – who has for the past two years been the driving force behind the Afghan peace process.

Afghanistan has been ranked 165 out of 180 countries in Transparency International’s 2020 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) which was released on Thursday.

Al-Qaeda is gaining strength in Afghanistan under Taliban’s protection, alleges the US Treasury Department. Despite signing a peace deal with the US in February last year, the Taliban has not yet severed ties with Al-Qaeda, the Treasury Department claimed in a new report.

President Ashraf Ghani on Tuesday discussed the peace process related matters with his predecessor Hamid Karzai, High Council for National Reconciliation (HCNR) chairman Dr Abdullah Abdullah and Hezb-i-Da’wat party leader Abdul RabRasoolSayyaf.

The residents of Mazar-i-Sharif, the capital of northern Balkh province, say they are facing a number of problems due to the growing activities of illegal armed groups.

Da Afghanistan Bank (Central Bank) said Tuesday that new banknotes are being printed and will be put into circulation in Afghanistan soon.

The Taliban’s head of its political office, Mullah Baradar Akhand and an accompanying delegation arrived in Iran on Monday for talks with Iranian officials.