Amid efforts for peace and hopes to end decades of conflict in the country, the Ministry of Defense on Sunday said that at least 21 provinces of the country—out of a total of 34—have witnessed clashes between security forces and the Taliban over the last 24 hours, maintaining a trend that has been consistent over the past few weeks.

US Chargé d’Affaires Ross Wilson in a chat with reporters on Sunday said that the Taliban is expecting the release of thousands of their prisoners under their agreement with the United States by mid-December. “The specific provision relating to another 7,000 Taliban prisoners is contained in the US-Taliban agreement,” Wilson said.

Belgium’s Defense Minister Ludivine Dedonder announced on Saturday that Belgian troops in Afghanistan will return home next year. “We are preparing our withdrawal,” which “will occur during the year 2021,” Dedonder said in an interview with Het Belang van Limburg newspaper.

Georgia sent out a 100-member regiment for a peacekeeping mission in Afghanistan, local news agencies reported.

Taliban shadow district governor for Baghlan’s Khinjan district has been killed in a clash with the Afghan security forces, provincial police confirmed.

The US Special Representative for Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad met with the Taliban delegation, led by the group’s deputy leader Mullah Baradar, in Doha, Qatar, on Saturday to discuss the latest developments around the Afghan peace process.

The Russian presence in Central Asia, predicated on the threats from Afghanistan, stymies the political and economic development of the region. On November 24, 2020, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, in a video message to the participants of the Geneva International Conference on Afghanistan, expressed Moscow’s concern about the ongoing escalation of violence in Afghanistan.

US lawmakers are moving to prevent the Trump administration from reducing troop levels in Afghanistan and Germany before President-elect Joe Biden is sworn in on 20 January 2021. US news agencies report that the House and Senate conferees have hashed out the mutual terms for the proposed fiscal year 2021 National Defense Authorization Act and are set to vote on […]

Four people were killed in security incidents in Kabul in the last 24 hours, according to eyewitnesses and victims’ relatives. In one of these incidents, unknown armed killed Abdul Jamil Hafifi, member of the Supreme Court, in Kabul’s PD8. His brother was wounded in this incident, his family said.

Addressing the first meeting of the High Council for National Reconciliation, chairman Abdullah Abdullah said on Saturday that in order for Afghanistan to achieve peace, international and regional support is needed.