The US envoy seeking a peace deal with the Taliban to end 17 years of war is heading back to the region for a new round of talks, the State Department said Tuesday. Zalmay Khalilzad will head to Afghanistan as well as neighboring Pakistan during the trip that began Monday and is scheduled to run through April 10. The State […]

KABUL, Afghanistan — The European Union’s top diplomat has expressed support for U.S.-led efforts to resolve Afghanistan’s 17-year war but stressed that the Afghan government should have a leading role in the process. The remarks by EU’s foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini reflect the bloc’s displeasure that the peace talks with the Taliban have so far sidelined the government in […]

Introduction Nearly two decades have passed since the U.S. invaded Afghanistan in the wake of the 9/11 attacks to topple the Taliban regime and root out al-Qaeda, and it is now the longest war in American history. Amid growing pressure at home, not least from President Donald Trump, to wind down American involvement and ongoing U.S.-Taliban talks in Doha, we […]

The U.S. envoy seeking a peace deal with the Taliban to end nearly 18 years of war in Afghanistan is heading back to the region amid growing tensions between Washington and Kabul over the absence of the Afghan government from the talks. “I’m on the road again to build on what was achieved earlier this month. Follow me here as […]

The Afghan military has suffered its worst loss of the year in southern Afghanistan, with at least 40 security force members killed in a Taliban attack this past week, but senior officials had still not released a death toll two days later, according to residents and functionaries from the area who spoke on Sunday.

Islamic state claimed responsibility for several explosions in the Afghan capital Kabul that killed six people and wounded 23, the group’s news agency AMAQ said on Thursday without providing evidence of its claim. The attack happened during celebrations to mark the Persian new year, an Afghan government spokesmen said.

A report to the U.N. Human Rights Council says nascent peace talks in Afghanistan offer a glimmer of hope to a country that has been at war for decades.

Officials in Afghanistan have delayed the country’s presidential election for a second time, setting Sept. 28 as the new date. They also announced Wednesday that provincial council elections in all 34 Afghan provinces would be held on the same date.

Last week, Afghanistan’s national security adviser, Hamdullah Mohib, launched into a broadside against Zalmay Khalilzad, the chief American diplomat responsible for negotiating with the Taliban. Addressing reporters in Washington, Mohib insinuated that Khalilzad is seeking to install himself as the “viceroy” of a new “caretaker government.” The State Department quickly issued a sharp rebuke, saying that any condemnation of Khalilzad […]

The Taliban has routed an Afghan National Army company and a border police force while pressing its offensive in the western Afghan district of Bala Murghab in Badghis province.