The Afghan National Army has launched offensives and started clearance operations in the south western parts of the country after the three-day Eid ceasefire ended at midnight Saturday. The 215th Maiwand Military Corps said in a statement, operations were launched simultaneously in besieged western areas of Lashkargah, Nawa and Nahri Saraj districts.“The Afghan defense forces are committed to suppressing, clearing […]

Beijing aims to draw Central Asia neighbors into its Belt and Road but worries about a post-US troop withdrawal rise in terrorism Ten months after the first meeting of the foreign ministers of China and the five Central Asian states, Beijing followed through with a second session on May 11 at a gathering in Xian hosted by Foreign Minister Wang […]

Afghans across the country on Saturday said that despite some incidents of violence, the majority of the people managed to celebrate Eid in relative calm in the last three days due to reciprocal ceasefire between the Taliban and the Afghan government. Many of the youths during these days flocked to the picnic points to spend their time together with friends […]

The Afghan Ministry of Defense (MoD) said on Saturday that Taliban has violated the three-day ceasefire in seven provinces across the country that killed and wounded dozens of civilians. “The ceasefire has been violated in several cases and several points of the country and terrorist groups under Taliban leadership violated the ceasefire. The Islamic Republic of Afghanistan is committed to […]

At least 12 people were killed and 15 more were wounded in an explosion inside a mosque in Shakar Dara district north of Kabul on Friday afternoon, police said in a statement. The blast happened at Haji Bakhshi Mosque in Qala-e-Murad Bek area in Shakardara district of Kabul during Friday prayer, police said. Sources said the bomb was placed inside […]

The US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday spoke with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on phone and the two sides discussed the regional efforts to advance the Afghan peace process and the recent waves of violence including the attack on Sayed Al-Shuhada school that killed over 60 students and wounded 150 more. Secretary Blinken conveyed Eid greetings and expressed […]

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said on Thursday that Pakistan’s Army Chief of Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa told him this week that the revival of an Islamic Emirate in Afghanistan was not in Pakistan’s interest. “Pakistan’s Army Chief of Staff has made it clear that reviving the Islamic Emirate in Afghanistan is not in Pakistan’s national interest,” Ghani said. After […]

While both the Taliban and the Afghan security forces observed the first day of the three-day Eid ceasefire Thursday, four explosions were reported across the country, claiming the lives of at least nine people and wounding 18 others. No group has not yet claimed responsibility for any of the explosions. Thursday also saw people around the country calling for an […]

Marshal Abdul Rashid Dostum, the former vice president, and Atta Mohammad Noor, the former governor of Balkh province, on Thursday stressed the need to reduce violence and end the killing of people in Afghanistan. Afghanistan’s third marshal, Dostum, said during Eid-ul-Fitr prayers in Sheberghan, the capital of Jawzjan province, the Taliban need to consider a continuous ceasefire to achieve peace. […]

In 1989, the Soviet Union withdrew the Red Army from Afghanistan across the Friendship Bridge back into the Soviet Union. That was not the end of Moscow’s engagement with Kabul, however. While President George H.W. Bush spoke of a ‘peace dividend’ and Congress scrambled to shift money to domestic projects, the Soviet Union also had a dividend: The Kremlin directed […]