Dear Taliban, A lot has changed in the three years that have passed since you published an Open Letter to the American People (on February 14, 2018) and I responded with my own to you (in the New Yorker, February 27, 2018). Two years almost to the day after my letter, on February 29, 2020, […]Read More

KABUL: U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday met U.S. special envoy for Afghanistan reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad and discussed the way forward in Afghanistan. “Great meeting with Ambassador Khalilzad to discuss the way forward in Afghanistan: continuing to protect the US against the threat of terrorism, achieving a just and durable political settlement there, […]Read More

KABUL: U.S. President Joe Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan has said that they are “taking a hard look” at how the Taliban is complying with its agreement with the U.S. before deciding how to proceed. Sullivan told an online programme sponsored by the US Institute of Peace that the Taliban should participate in “real… […]Read More

KABUL: The Afghan government is preparing for ramped-up fighting amid slow progress in the peace negotiations in Doha, with National Security Adviser Hamdullah Mohib saying the Taliban does not want peace and that based on intelligence information, the group is making itself ready for the next fighting season. Mohib said that the Taliban is trying […]Read More

KABUL: Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, referring to the recent rumors about the establishment of an interim government as an outcome of a peace process with the Taliban, has said that the Afghan people do not support the dissolution of democracy and that his main duty as president is to peacefully transfer power to his successor […]Read More

KABUL: President Ashraf Ghani has invited the Taliban to Kandahar for discussions on bringing peace to Afghanistan. In a trip to the southern province on Thursday, Ghani said if the Taliban are willing to bring peace, they can come to Kandahar to hold talks with the delegation of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. Ghani said […]Read More

KABUL: Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday arrived on a day-long visit to Afghanistan where he met top Afghan government officials including President Ashraf Ghani and the talks between the two were focused on a number of important issues pertaining to the Afghan peace process, bilateral relations and cooperation between the nations on mutual […]Read More

KABUL: The US-Taliban agreement—signed in Doha in February—cannot be the basis for all topics that will be discussed in the peace negotiations in Qatar, said Abdullah Abdullah, the head of the High Council for National Reconciliation, reiterating that Afghanistan needs inclusive peace. The negotiations in Doha have been paused for the last many weeks over […]Read More

KABUL: After months of political deadlock, Afghanistan’s President Ashraf Ghani and his election rival Abdullah Abdullah have signed a power-sharing deal in which Ghani retains his post and Abdullah takes a leading role in the peace process. As per the agreement signed on Sunday, Abdullah will head the newly established High Council for Peace and […]Read More

NEW DELHI: Hours after Afghan President Ashraf Ghani ordered troops to switch to ‘offensive’ mode and resume attacks on the Taliban, the terrorist group launched a verbal onslaught, saying the onus of ‘further escalation of violence, ramifications fall squarely on the shoulders of the Kabul administration’. In a televised address on Tuesday, Ghani said the […]Read More

KABUL: One of the top 15 prisoners whose release is being demanded by the Taliban, Lailuddin, has been identified by a senior government official as part of a network responsible for major attacks in Kabul, including the German embassy bombing, the American University of Afghanistan (AUAF) attack, an attack on former MP Mir Wali and […]Read More

KABUL: A draft of a Taliban charter consisting of a list of rules, presumably intended as a guide for the potential future governance of Afghanistan, was shown to TOLOnews by a government source. Titled “The charter of the Islamic emirate of Afghanistan,” the list of articles looks very similar to those of the former Taliban […]Read More