Afghanistan security forces have killed a Pakistani bomb-maker who trained Taliban militants before switching allegiance to Al-Qaeda in western Farah province, the country’s intelligence agency said Wednesday.

Uzbekistan Foreign Minister Abdulaziz Kamilov in a meeting with Abdullah Abdullah, the chairman of the High Council for National Reconciliation, on Wednesday, said his country supports an Afghan-own and Afghan-led peace process and is ready to help in this respect, Abdullah’s office said in a statement.

U.S. President-elect Joe Biden may consider keeping a small contingent of counterterrorism troops in Afghanistan, a move expected to face resistance from the Taliban, analysts told Stars and Stripes.

At least eight Afghan National Army soldiers were killed and three others captured by Taliban in Kunduz province on Monday night, Mohammad Yousof Ayoubi, provincial council head said.

Afghan Ministry of Interior on Tuesday told Ariana News that around 600 Taliban fighters have returned to the battlefields since their release from prison earlier this year.

Afghan officials have confirmed that the Taliban has used “weaponized drones” in some attacks on government forces in recent weeks. The officials said “the Taliban embeds mortar rounds or small bombs with the drones and drop them on military and government installations.”

There have already been many military maneuvers, political pivots and plot twists since the U.S. inked a peace deal with the Taliban late last month. But the one development that could finally bring a measure of clarity to Afghanistan in the long term is the International Criminal Court’s decision on March 5 to approve opening a full investigation into allegations […]

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ appeal in March for a global cease-fire amid the coronavirus pandemic made no impression on the Taliban. Through April, the militant group’s commanders seemed generally dismissive of the risks posed by COVID-19 as they ramped up their annual spring offensive.

The leader of the Hezb-e-Islami, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, will fly to Doha amid fragile peace negotiations that have been at pause after Kabul University attack and other deadly insurgent attacks around the country. Although the Taliban denied responsibility, the Afghan government blames the militants for the attack which killed dozens of students.

A suicide car bomber in Afghanistan killed at least four people and wounded 40 in an attack on a police base in the country’s southern Kandahar province, a provincial official said Monday.