Afghanistan

PUL-E-ALAM, Afghanistan (AP) — A flickering flame of paper, rags and random twigs is the only heat Gulnaz has to keep her 18-month-old son warm, barely visible beneath his icy blanket as she begs on a bitterly cold highway on the road to Kabul.

The 70-kilometer (45-mile) stretch of highway is flanked by snow-swept hills. Occasionally a driver slows his car and shoves an Afghani note into the 28-year-old woman’s bare, dirt-caked hand. She sits for hours on the highway median, positioned just beyond a bump in the road that slows traffic.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — As they headed home at night from a wedding, everyone in the car went quiet when they approached the checkpoint in Kabul manned by two Taliban with automatic rifles.

One of the fighters shone a light into the car. Fatima Abdullahi was in the backseat, her two children perched on her lap, squeezed between her younger sister Zainab and a work colleague. The fighter waved them through.

Seconds later, two shots rang out. Zainab slumped against her sister. Abdullahi screamed, pleading with her to wake up. Zainab, 25, was dead.

27 Jan 2022; MEMO: Qatar has resumed operating passenger evacuation flights from Afghanistan, a senior Qatar government source told Reuters on Thursday, after a halt of nearly two months.

The first flight, operated by Qatar Airways and chartered by the United States government, departed Kabul for Doha on Wednesday. Onboard were 227 civilians, including US citizens, green-card holders and their dependents, the source said, reported Reuters.

PUL-E-ALAM, Afghanistan (AP) — A flickering flame of paper, rags and random twigs is the only heat Gulnaz has to keep her 18-month-old son warm, barely visible beneath his icy blanket as she begs on a bitterly cold highway on the road to Kabul.

The 70-kilometer (45-mile) stretch of highway is flanked by snow-swept hills. Occasionally a driver slows his car and shoves an Afghani note into the 28-year-old woman’s bare, dirt-caked hand. She sits for hours on the highway medium, positioned just beyond a bump in the road that slows traffic.

24 Jan 2022; MEMO: A delegation of senior Taliban officials and representatives has travelled to Norway to hold talks in an effort to free $10 billion of Afghanistan's frozen assets.

The delegation, led by acting Foreign Minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi, arrived in Norway's capital, Oslo, yesterday to begin the three days of talks with Western government officials and Afghan civil society representatives.

KABUL, Jan 17 (NNN-ANA) – At least a child was killed and four security personnel were wounded, after a roadside bomb blast hit a security forces pick-up truck, in Bagrami district, east of the capital Kabul yesterday, the capital police said.

The incident occurred when an improvised bomb, planted at a road divider, was detonated when the vehicle was passing by an area in Bagrami district, at around mid-day, police spokesman, Mubin Khan, told reporters via text massaging.

KABUL, Jan 17 (NNN-ANA) – At least a child was killed and four security personnel were wounded, after a roadside bomb blast hit a security forces pick-up truck, in Bagrami district, east of the capital Kabul yesterday, the capital police said.

The incident occurred when an improvised bomb, planted at a road divider, was detonated when the vehicle was passing by an area in Bagrami district, at around mid-day, police spokesman, Mubin Khan, told reporters via text massaging.

15 Jan 2022; MEMO: A meeting to discuss reconciliation between the Taliban and the National Resistance Front (NRF), led by Ahmad Massoud, ended without progress, AFP reported on Friday.

The NRF is the only opposition to the Taliban. Its leader is the son of late prominent Mujahideen commander who fought against the occupation of the Soviet Union, Ahmad Shah Massoud. Its stronghold is Panjshir.

JALALABAD, Afghanistan, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- An explosion rocked outside a school in Lal Pur district in Afghanistan's eastern province of Nangarhar on Monday, killing four students and injuring 10 others, a district official told Xinhua anonymously.

"So far, we have no more details, but we will try to get more information," the official added.

MEHTARLAM, Afghanistan, Jan 8 (NNN-ANA) – A five-year-old child was killed and five people injured, in a rainfall-related incident in Afghanistan’s eastern province of Laghman, last night, a local source confirmed today.

“The incident occurred at mid-night when the roof of a muddy house collapsed, in a slum area in Camp Baba, a locality on the outskirts of provincial capital, Mehtarlam city,” Abdul Rahman Zyyar, a local elder and member of a local council, said.