Afghan security forces have launched a clearing operation in Qala-e-Naw, capital of Badghis province, on Wednesday afternoon, provincial governor Hasamuddin Shams said. The Taliban has been “pushed back from several parts of the city,” said Shams, adding that “security forces are advancing.” “I assure you that all our security forces, including the special forces, are defending the city of Qala-e-Naw. […]

At least six policemen were killed in a Taliban attack in the Qala-e-Haidar Khan village of Paghman district in the west of Kabul. Security sources said that the Taliban launched an attack around 2:00 am on Tuesday night and seized all the weapons and other military equipment after killing the soldiers. The security sources said that the Taliban also sustained […]

A Taliban delegation led by the group’s negotiator Shir Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai is in Tehran where the delegation met with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and other senior Iranian officials. The Taliban delegation is also expected to meet with a group of Afghan politicians, led by former vice president Younus Qanooni, who have travelled there from Kabul. The Taliban’s […]

Afghanistan’s tumultuous peace process came to a halt after President Biden’s announcement of a delayed withdrawal plan for US troops from the country. Indeed, this served as a good excuse for the Taliban to boycott any peace talks, assuming that if they do not negotiate power today, they will have it all after the unconditional withdrawal of the U.S. forces. […]

The US military’s departure leaves the battered country precariously teetering on the edge of a Taliban takeover The definitive closure of Bagram Air Base, the nerve centre of 20 years of American military operations in Afghanistan, marks in a real sense the finality of US withdrawal from the country. It is the end of a campaign by international allies that […]

On 24 May 2000 the last Israeli soldier left Lebanon after 18 years of war. A few months earlier I completed my national service as an IDF operations sergeant, serving in command centres on the Lebanese border. Back then I watched the withdrawal with relief; happy that the roadside bombs, shelling, Hezbollah attacks on convoys and outposts, the wounded and […]

Badghis governor Hassamuddin Shams has confirmed that at the height of clashes between the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF) and the Taliban, insurgents broke through the prison gate in the provincial capital of Qala-e-Naw and freed the prisoners. However, according to Shams, the security forces were quick to intervene and have since recaptured about 80% of the inmates. […]

Badghis Governor Hassamuddin Shams said Wednesday morning that all six districts in Badghis have completely fallen to the Taliban and that the group has now entered Qala-e-Naw, the provincial capital. Shams said heavy clashes are currently underway and people are extremely afraid. He said Qadis district was the last to fall and was seized Wednesday morning by the Taliban. Sources […]

A meeting between a Taliban delegation and the Afghan Republic, chaired by the Iranian Foreign Minister, got underway on Wednesday in Tehran. According to a Taliban spokesman, Mohammad Naeem, Iran invited the Taliban delegation from Doha, led by Shir Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai, senior Taliban negotiator in Qatar for “bilateral meetings”. In his opening address, Iran’s Foreign Minister Javad Zarif said: […]

Afghan armed forces spokesman General Ajmal Shinwari said Wednesday the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF) have carried out 278 separate operations in seven provinces in the past week as they battle the Taliban. Addressing a press conference in Kabul, Shinwari said in this time, more than 2,360 insurgents have been killed, 1,412 wounded and 182 arrested including eight […]