Afghanistan’s president has held talks with Pakistan’s prime minister as momentum builds for peace talks with the Taliban that are aimed at ending Afghanistan’s decades of war and conflict.

There was an air of expectation on both sides as the Taliban and American diplomats gathered to meet for the latest round of peace talks on Saturday. Afghan and Western officials say that if the Taliban express willingness to finally go to the negotiating table with the Afghan government, American diplomats might be willing to play their main negotiating card: […]

The Taliban’s “Commission for Military Affairs of Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan” gave media outlets a one week deadline to cease broadcasting anti-Taliban commercials or they “shall become military targets.” The Taliban has a long history of denouncing and attacking Afghan journalists and other elements of civil society. Afghanistan is one of the most dangerous countries for journalists to work.

Al Qaeda and the Taliban remain close allies, according to a report by a United Nations Security Council monitoring team. Indeed, Al Qaeda “has grown stronger operating under the Taliban umbrella across Afghanistan and is more active than in recent years.”

A member of Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) from Jammu and Kashmir was recently killed fighting in Ghazni, Afghanistan, according to jihadist sources online. The AQIS man, known as Abdul Haseeb al-Kashmiri, was reportedly killed late last week.

More than 100 militants have been killed in conflict-battered Afghanistan over the past three days as government forces have stepped up crackdown on Taliban group, officials said Monday.

New Delhi: The Taliban’s leadership is providing safe havens and resources to the Lashkar-e-Taiba, Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups targeting India, a report produced by a United Nations expert group has revealed. “Foreign fighters continue to operate under the authority of the Taliban in multiple Afghan provinces at undiminished levels,” the United Nations’ Analytical Support and Sanctions Monitoring Team’s […]

Islamic State claimed responsibility for a suicide attack in a which a militant on foot targeted in Afghanistan’s eastern city of Jalalabad, killing at least nine people including civilians, the group’s Amaq news agency said on Thursday. The group did not give evidence for its claim.

Asim Umar, a senior al Qaeda official, has released a lengthy statement praising the Taliban’s “victory” in Afghanistan. He claims that America’s “defeat” proves that its superior technology is no match for the jihadists’ faith, adding that America’s army no longer wants to fight.

In an effort to convince the Taliban to open negotiations, the Afghan government has freed hundreds of Taliban prisoners without conditions, and will free hundreds more. The Taliban has not responded to the prisoner release, and continues to refuse to negotiate with the Afghan government.