Meanwhile, the Afghan interior minister says gov’t arming local groups as part of plan to fight back against the Taliban. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani returned to the capital Wednesday after a flying visit to the besieged northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif to rally his beleaguered forces, with Taliban fighters having now taken more than a quarter of the country’s provincial capitals […]

Taliban insurgents claim advances in 2 more provincial centers amid deadly violence Afghan President Ashraf Ghani arrived in the frontline province of Balkh on Wednesday to boost the morale of security forces as Taliban insurgents marched on two more provincial capitals. Flanked by his close aides and senior political figures, Ghani landed in Balkh’s capital early in the morning to […]

The Afghan National Security and Defense Forces (ANDSF) pushed back a Taliban offensive on Mazar-e-Sharif city and retook Nahr-e-Shahi district, Balkh governor Mohammad Farhad Azimi said on Tuesday. Azimi said that on Monday night the ANDSF and the Taliban clashed in Nahr-e-Shahi district and Dehdadi district. He said the Taliban retreated from the area after facing strong resistance from the […]

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is extremely concerned by the rapid escalation of conflict in Afghanistan this week, and urged the Iranian authorities to keep the Milak border crossing, near Zaranj in Nimroz province, open for Afghan refugees. According to a statement issued by the UNHCR on Tuesday, nearly 200 Afghan refugees fled to Iran over the weekend amid intensified […]

The Afghan government’s failure to provide accountability for violence against women and girls has undermined progress to protect women’s rights, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Gains by Taliban forces as the United States completes its troop withdrawal leaves the current Afghan state, and women’s rights in particular, uncertain. The 32-page report, “‘I Thought Our Life Might […]

The effort to fend off panic and minimize losses has taken on outsize importance following the seizure of five provincial capitals by the Taliban. First, a remote provincial capital in Afghanistan’s southwest fell. The next day, it was a city in Afghanistan’s north. By Sunday, Taliban fighters had taken three more cities, including their biggest prize yet, the major provincial […]

The UK’s withdrawal from Afghanistan is a strategic mistake which could spark a resurgence of terrorism, a former military commander has warned. General Sir Richard Barrons warned the decision to pull out would send a message to countries around the world that leaders in the West ‘don’t have the stomach to see these things through’. It comes as Taliban forces […]

First, a remote provincial capital in Afghanistan’s south-west fell. The next day, it was a city in Afghanistan’s north. By Sunday (Aug 8), Taleban fighters had captured three more cities, including their biggest prize yet, the major provincial capital of Kunduz. All the while, the Afghan central government has acknowledged very little of it. In three days, at least five […]

‘Concerted air campaign is unlikely to change the inroads the Taliban have made,’ says unnamed senior US official Despite the Taliban capturing more cities in Afghanistan, US President Joe Biden will continue with his plans to withdraw American troops from the country, a report said Sunday. The New York Times report, titled “Biden is not changing the US withdrawal plan, […]

Central parts of the city of Sar-e-Pul and many areas in Kunduz city have fallen to the Taliban after heavy clashes between the two sides. Reports indicate that in Sar-e-Pul the governor’s compound, the police headquarters and the NDS office have fallen to the Taliban. Local officials said that security forces are stationed in an army base in Sar-e-Pul and […]