Former Afghan president Hamid Karzai said Afghans are being used against each other by external forces and that Pakistan wants to exert strategic influence in Afghanistan through the Taliban. In an interview with Germany’s weekly news magazine Der Spiegel, Karzai said: “I realized early into my tenure as president that this war is not our conflict, and we Afghans are […]

General David H. Petraeus, retired US Army general and former director of the CIA said on Saturday he fears the United States will come to regret their decision to withdraw all troops and warned of a possible civil war. In an interview with VOA, Petraeus said despite measures being taken to mitigate risks by extremists from re-establishing safe havens in […]

Taliban militants attacked the Alishing district and Mehtarlam, the capital of Laghman province, sources said Sunday night. According to the sources, heavy clashes are underway between the Afghan security forces in the provincial capital of Mehtarlam city. Sources told Ariana News that the provincial prison is under siege and that the Taliban were “shouting via a load speaker and asking […]

Australia’s embassy in Afghanistan will soon be closed permanently as dozens of troops prepare to leave the war-torn country. The move comes just weeks after the government announced it would pull its last 80 troops out of Afghanistan. The Kabul embassy’s closure is reportedly imminent, with private security companies already notified their contracts are due to expire in June. At […]

The recent attack on the girl’s school in a Hazara neighborhood warrants discussion concerning the threat of Islamic State Khorasan (IS-K) in Afghanistan. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack that killed 85 and wounded over 100. However, IS-K has conducted similar operations in the past. The Hazara Shia are particularly threatened because IS ideology considers them to be […]

The Defense Ministry said that Taliban attacks have been pushed back in Laghman province, but some provincial council members said that the fighting continues in the outskirts of Mehtarlam city as well as in Alisheng and Alingar districts. Army chief Gen. Yasin Zia visited Laghman on Sunday and said that the situation was under control now that commando forces have […]

The Afghan government, facing widespread protests, has agreed to recall newly-appointed governor Mohammad Daud Laghmani to Kabul and to authorize the deputy governor to lead the province, for the time being, a member of the National Islamic Movement of Afghanistan (Junbish-e-Milli) said. Enayatullah Babur Farahmand said that the government has also agreed to keep the acting governor in place until […]

Some negotiators of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and the Taliban held a meeting in Doha on Sunday–their latest since May 13–amid the stalled peace efforts that have shown no progress over the last two months after the announcement of US withdrawal from Afghanistan. Shaikh Abdul Hakim Haqqani, the head of the Taliban’s negotiating team, also attended the meeting, according […]

Taliban group attacks were pushed back in six districts of Badakhshan province on Sunday night, local officials said Monday. Nick Mohammad Nazari, spokesman for the governor of Badakhshan, said that on Sunday night, the Taliban, in collaboration with foreign insurgents, carried out offensive attacks in parts of Yaftal-e-Payan, Darayim, Khash, Jurm, Warduj and Raghistan districts. He did not however give […]

A female suicide bomber and her three companions were killed in Faryab province on Sunday, officials said Monday. Faryab police chief, said the woman, who was trying to blow herself up at Qaisar police headquarters in Faryab district, was identified and killed along with her three companions before reaching her target. Three other attackers were injured in the incident, police […]