In a new report released Tuesday, the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said the overall civilian casualty figure for the first nine months of this year had dropped by about 30 percent against the same period last year but that the harm done to civilians remains inordinate and shocking.

The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and the Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation (MoRR) have launched a $10 million program, funded by Saudi Arabia, to provide essential services to support the sustainable reintegration of returnees, internally displaced people (IDPs) and host communities.

The US State Department said on Tuesday their Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad will meet with negotiating teams in Doha to press both sides to immediately reduce the levels of violence that Afghan civilians are forced to bear.

Despite repeated calls from Afghans and their international partners for a reduction in violence, the Taliban has failed to listen and has steadfastly stated violence will end once an Islamic system has been established. In an op-ed in Foreign Policy on Tuesday, Barnett Richard Rubin, an American political scientist and a leading expert on Afghanistan said that even then the […]

India has given a submarine to Myanmar as part of a military outreach to its eastern neighbor that strategic analysts say is driven by New Delhi’s bid to counter China’s growing influence in Southeast Asia.

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) on Friday announced it would keep Pakistan on the grey list until at least February next year. Speaking at a virtual press conference in Paris on Friday the anti-money laundering/terror financing watchdog’s president Marcus Pleyer said there were still conditions Pakistan needs to comply with before they can be removed from the grey list.

Amnesty International has raised its voice over the spate of bloody attacks in Afghanistan in the past week and said parties to the peace talks are failing to protect the lives of civilians. The watchdog said it is Afghan civilians who continue to pay the price for the conflict.

Afghanistan’s First Vice President Amrullah Saleh said on Saturday night that ISIS Afghanistan (IS-K) and the Taliban share the same “ideological gene” and that the “rotten ideology” needs to be rooted out.

At least 18 people have been killed in a suicide bombing in a densely populated area of Kabul city. Ministry of Interior spokesman Tariq Arian confirmed Saturday evening that the death toll stands at 18 and about 57 others were wounded.

With Afghan peace negotiations ongoing, efforts to build a post-settlement Afghan security sector should begin now. As Afghan peace talks in Doha move forward, a vital component to the success of any peace deal will be how Afghanistan’s security sector can reform to sustain peace after more than 40 years of violence, and how the international community can best assist. […]