Afghan Foreign Minister Mohammad Hanif Atmar on Tuesday spoke about a recent trip of a high-level Pakistani delegation to Kabul. He said the two sides reached agreements about the peace process in Afghanistan, but the two countries now need to take practical steps to expand bilateral cooperation on peace in Afghanistan. Atmar made it clear that Afghanistan will not trust […]

As prospects for the resumption of peace talks between the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and the Taliban remain vague, a spokesman for the Taliban on Monday said that the group was ready to resume intra-Afghan talks in Doha—but gave no details about when the talks would start again. “We are conducting regular meetings, the contact has not been cut off, […]

The US Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service, through its Rewards for Justice (RFJ) office, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation have offered a reward of up to $5 million for information concerning the kidnapping of Cydney Mizell, a humanitarian aid worker who went missing in Afghanistan in 2008. This RFJ reward offer is for information leading to the location, […]

Taliban militants have captured parts of Jalrez district of Maidan Wardak province, an Afghan PM said Wednesday. Mahdi Rasikh, MP for Maidan Wardak in the Wolesi Jirga (Lower House of Parliament) shared a message attributed to an Afghan soldier who stated that the Taliban stormed the district at around 3 am Wednesday. According to the soldier, four outposts fell to […]

Two members of the Afghan Republic’s negotiating team, who are in Kabul, said on Wednesday that the Taliban is ready to start meaningful negotiations. Habiba Sarabi, a member of the Republic’s negotiating team, said peace talks to finalize the agenda of intra-Afghan negotiations will resume once members of both teams are back in Doha, Qatar. “When the Taliban delegation arrives […]

Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, the leader of the Hizb-e-Islami party, says that President Ashraf Ghani along with a number of politicians has agreed to form an eight-member “decision-making” council. In an exclusive interview with Ariana News, Hekmatyar stated that the council would make the final decisions on national issues in Afghanistan. Ghani, former President Hamid Karzai, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, Jamiat-e-Islami leader Salahuddin Rabbani, […]

A major Taliban attack in Baghlan province has been pushed back by Afghan security forces, local officials confirmed Tuesday. According to them, at least 25 militants were killed and 10 were wounded. Provincial officials said the Taliban attacked the Baghlan-e-Markazi district from four directions but faced serious resistance from the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF). A clearance operation […]

China says it is willing to deepen counter-terrorism and security cooperation with Afghanistan and to help Kabul strengthen its counter-terrorism capacities. In a phone conversation on Monday night, China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi told his Afghan counterpart Haneef Atmar that China will also continue to provide necessary support to Afghanistan and other South Asian countries in their fight against the […]

The Afghan National Security Council (NSC) said the Taliban has focused on continuing the war and that the group has “ideological” and “financial” ties with terrorist groups Rahmatullah Andar, a spokesman for the NSC, said in a series of tweets Tuesday that the Taliban has no will to bring peace to Afghanistan and that the Taliban still has firm ties […]

The US special envoy to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad said Tuesday predictions that the Taliban will quickly overrun Afghan government forces and conquer Kabul once U.S. and coalition forces have withdrawn are unduly pessimistic. Testifying before the US House Foreign Affairs Committee, Khalilzad said: “I personally believe that the statements that their (Afghan) forces will disintegrate and the Talibs will take […]