Afghan polls set to see big drop in voter numbers amid Taliban threat and lack of interest
At least 2.2 million people voted in Afghanistan's presidential election with more votes to come, the election commission head Maulana Abdullah said on Sunday, indicating a very low turnout that could mar the result. Tight security ensured the election took place on Saturday in relative ...
At least four killed as suicide bomber and gunmen attack Afghan government building
At least four people were killed and a dozen injured when gunmen stormed a crowded government building in eastern Afghanistan Wednesday following a suicide bombing, with desperate survivors leaping from windows to escape the fighting, witnesses and officials said. Security forces rushed to the scene ...
Taliban kill at least 48 in bloody day ahead of Afghan polls
Taliban suicide bombers killed at least 48 people and wounded dozens more in two blasts Tuesday — one at a campaign rally for the president and the other in Kabul — with the insurgents warning of more violence ahead of elections. The first attack saw ...
Taliban says Trump's decision to cancel Afghan talks will mean more U.S. lives lost
The Taliban on Sunday said U.S. President Donald Trump's abrupt decision to cancel peace talks would lead to fresh losses of American lives in Afghanistan at a time when the insurgent group was ready to finalize a deal to end the war. The Islamist group ...
Taliban threaten Afghan presidential elections and warn voters to steer clear of rallies
The Taliban warned Afghans on Tuesday to keep away from election rallies and ordered its fighters to "stand against" the planned September vote. The threat came as fresh violence gripped Afghanistan, including a bicycle bombing in Kabul that killed five people, even while the Taliban ...
'Sticky bomb' kills at least two aboard Kabul TV bus; rogue cop slays seven in Kandahar
Two people were killed in a blast targeting workers for an Afghan television station Sunday, while elsewhere in the war-torn nation at least seven police officers died in an "insider attack" by Taliban loyalists, officials said. The deadly attacks come amid surging violence across Afghanistan ...
Ghani seeks 'clarification' after Trump says he could wipe Afghanistan off the map
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said Tuesday the US should clarify remarks President Donald Trump made about Afghanistan, including a claim he could easily win the war but didn't "want to kill 10 million people. Trump had made several controversial statements a day earlier alongside Pakistan ...
U.N. official in Afghanistan calls for 'zero tolerance' of sexual harassment
A senior U.N. official in Afghanistan has called on government offices to adopt policies of "zero tolerance" toward sexual harassment, amid a swirling scandal that has seen women allege routine misconduct in the corridors of power. The controversy erupted in May when Gen. Habibullah Ahmadzai, ...
Mike Pompeo visits Kabul, hoping for a peace deal before Sept. 1
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met Afghan President Ashraf Ghani during an unannounced visit to Kabul on Tuesday to discuss ongoing peace talks with the Taliban and the security situation ahead of Afghan presidential polls in September. Pompeo stopped over on his way to ...
Blast, casualties reported near Kabul airport following return of Vice President Dostum
An explosion near Kabul's international airport on Sunday injured several people, officials said, shortly after Afghan Vice President Abdul Rashid Dostum returned to the country after more than a year in exile. Scores of senior government officials, political leaders and supporters had gathered at the ...
At least 15 killed as attackers set off multiple blasts, engage in firefight in Jalalabad
Afghan security forces battled for hours against a group of attackers who stormed a government building in the eastern city of Jalalabad on Sunday after a coordinated assault that killed at least 15 people and wounded 42, local officials said. A car bomb was detonated ...
The Taliban warned the Afghan government on Thursday against harming any of their prisoners after reports that President Ashraf Ghani would order the execution of 11 militants on death row in revenge for the devastating truck bomb attack in Kabul. Ghani's fragile and divided government ...
