Acting Foreign Minister Mohammad Haneef Atmar and Turkmen Ambassador to Kabul Ovezov Hoja signed the ratification documents pertaining to the Strategic Partnership Agreement between Afghanistan and Turkmenistan on Thursday afternoon.

The governor of Paktia, Mohammad Halim Fidai says the Taliban are not committed to peace and have allowed foreign fighters to join their ranks in the province, which has led to intensified fighting in the area.

US Special Representative for Afghan Reconciliation Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad and commander of NATO’s Resolute Support Mission in Afghanistan General Scott Miller met with Pakistan’s Army Chief of Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa Thursday to discuss peace and security in the region.

Robert O’Brien, US national security adviser, said Washington would reduce its forces in Afghanistan to 2,500 by early next year. US President Donald Trump on Twitter on Wednesday said that “We should have the small remaining number of our BRAVE Men and Women serving in Afghanistan home by Christmas!”

Abdullah Abdullah, chairman of the High Council for National Reconciliation, met with India’s National Security Advisor Ajit Doval on Wednesday to discuss the Afghan Peace Process ad the Doha talks.

Zalmay Khalilzad, the US special envoy for Afghanistan Reconciliation this week outlined one of the sticking points between the Afghan negotiating team and the Taliban’s team, which has led to a deadlock in the peace process.

Afghanistan’s consul general in Istanbul said this week that Armenia’s occupation of Azerbaijani territory must end immediately and the matter should be resolved through dialogue in line with international law.

As Afghanistan mourned the 63 people killed in a suicide bombing at a Kabul wedding , a brother of the groom spoke through tears of his weariness at the bloodshed in the country and the crushing guilt he felt at having to face his neighbors, many of whom lost relatives in the weekend blast.

Afghanistan’s warring sides started negotiations for the first time, bringing together the Taliban and delegates appointed by the Afghan government Saturday for historic meetings aimed at ending decades of war.

As Pakistan heads into parliamentary elections this week, the country’s minorities are looking for better representation and a voice that will speak up for them in what rights groups warn is in an increasingly intolerant atmosphere in this Muslim-majority nation.