One person was killed and another was wounded in an armed attack on a vehicle carrying security guards of the deputy head of the Senate’s secretariat in Kabul on Saturday evening, police said. According to police the incident happened in PD5 Qala-e-Kashif area in Kabul. Gunmen opened fire on the vehicle, killing the driver and wounding a security guard. The […]

A senior Afghan military official said this week that if the US pulls out without a political settlement having been reached between government and the Taliban, the country will be in “deep trouble”. Speaking to the New York Times this week, the security official said: “If the US pulls out, and there is no political agreement, then we are in […]

At least 36 Taliban insurgents were killed and 15 more wounded in an operation by the Afghan forces in Kunduz province, security officials said Sunday. According to officials, the Afghan Security and Defense Forces (ANSDF) have launched an operation to crack down on the Taliban presence in the Imam Sahib district of Kunduz. The officials said that so far three […]

The US, UN, Turkey, and Qatar have handed over guiding principles for the Istanbul Summit to the Afghan government and the Taliban. A document seen by Ariana News shows that there are nine guiding principles that could help the negotiating parties reach an agreement on some key points ahead of the Istanbul conference which is due to be held from […]

The High Council for the National Reconciliation (HCNR) has drafted a unified peace plan for the upcoming Istanbul Summit. A copy of the draft seen by Ariana News shows that the plan has four parts including a principle for the future of Afghanistan, a Peace roadmap/President Ashraf Ghani’s plan, a future political system, and an end to the ongoing conflict […]

In a key development in the fight against impunity, Afghanistan’s police arrested 11 Taliban members on April 7 for their suspected role in a series of targeted killings, including that of journalist Yama Siawash. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) welcomes the arrests and calls for justice to be secured in accordance with the rule of law. Acting on a […]

Hazrat Omar Zakhilwal, the head of the Harakat-e-Nejate Afghanistan, a newly established political party, on Sunday said that an early election based on President Ashraf Ghani’s proposal will be possible only when the president resigns from his post, and he blamed the president for disrupting peace efforts. He said that the president’s proposal for peace is an obstacle to the […]

At least ten people, including three civilians, were killed in five security incidents in Herat, Sar-e-Pul, Farah and Uruzgan provinces on Sunday, according to local officials. Three police officers were killed in a roadside bomb explosion in the city of Herat on Sunday evening, health officials said. Security officials did not comment on the incident. Three civilians, including two children, […]

President Ashraf Ghani on Sunday said he has a clear plan for peace compared to “external plans” but reiterated that there shouldn’t be haste in the process. Ghani, whose message was played to a large gathering of residents from northern provinces in Kabul, said that there is a need for the establishment of a peace government. Ghani added that he […]

In March, General Kenneth (Frank) McKenzie, Jr., an Alabama-born marine who commands U.S. forces in the Middle East and South Asia, took a whirlwind tour of Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, and Lebanon—America’s most volatile theatre of operations. Some legs of the trip were made on a C-17, a cavernous aircraft that can hold a hundred and thirty-two caskets, arranged in three […]