The Afghan forces have arrested two key Taliban members in northern Baghlan province, police said Sunday. Ahmad Jawid Bisharat, a spokesman for Baghlan police, said that the designated chief and head of the military commission of the Taliban for the Sabari district of Khost were arrested in an operation on the Baghlan highway. Bisharat, however, did not provide further details […]

As the May 1 deadline for the US troop withdrawal nears, and efforts to secure a peace deal are ramped up, former Afghan president Hamid Karzai said the country is asking the Taliban to embrace today’s Afghanistan, a progressive modern Republic with democratic institutions.

Russia Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is due in Islamabad on Tuesday on a two-day official visit for talks on bilateral and regional matters, with special focus on Afghanistan. According to Pakistan’s Daily Times, Lavrov will lead a 13-member delegation that also includes Russian special envoy for Afghanistan Zamir Kabulov, Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova and several other senior officials. This […]

An Australian court on Thursday said it will allow four Afghans to give evidence via video link in a defamation case filed by a former Australian soldier accused of being involved in killing civilians in Afghanistan, Anadolu News Agency reported. The ruling came in a defamation case filed by Ben Roberts-Smith, a special forces veteran, against Australian media outlets for […]

Sources reveal secret negotiations between Pakistan’s government and the TTP, which ultimately fell apart. During 2020, the Pakistani government and the Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which has, since its inception in December 2007, been openly fighting the Pakistani government, conducted secret peace negotiations, militant sources exclusively confirmed to The Diplomat. While these negotiations went into much detail, the talks eventually […]

The Human Rights Watch (HRW) has accused the Taliban of “deliberately” targeting journalists and other media workers, including women in Afghanistan. The watchdog said in a statement that threats and attacks against journalists have increased sharply since the start of the negotiations between the Afghan government and the Taliban in Doha, the capital of Qatar.

At least 26 Taliban members including three commanders were killed and 33 others wounded in an Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF) operation in Faryab province on Friday night, Faryab police said in a statement. Air and ground operations were carried out in Gurziwan district, the statement read.

Conflicting reports have emerged around the apparent Afghan National Army Black Hawk helicopter crash in Helmand province on Wednesday night. According to the Ministry of Defense, the helicopter made an emergency landing in Nahr-e-Saraj district in the province after experiencing technical problems.

Afghanistan has risen to second on the UK’s International Rescue Committee’s annual Emergency Watchlist due to a triple threat of conflict, COVID-19 and climate change. In its latest report, issued on Tuesday, IRC said the number of people in need for 2021 nearly doubled compared to early 2020, and Afghanistan rose from sixth to second on the IRC’s Emergency Watchlist.

Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, leader of Hizb-e-Islami party, on Thursday said his party is going ahead with demonstrations in Kabul as government has not complied with the party’s demands, which include the release of Hezb-e-Islami prisoners, the integration of his forces within the security forces, and the government’s continued resistance to the peace process. Speaking at a press conference in Kabul, Hekmatyar […]