Afghanistan

TALUQAN, Afghanistan, June 14 (Xinhua) -- A key Taliban divisional commander has been arrested in Afghanistan's northern province of Takhar, as fighting rages in the country, a local government spokesman confirmed on Monday.

"Rohullah Rohani and one of his protectors have been arrested following an operative task conducted by personnel National Directorate of Security (NDS), or national intelligence agency in Yangi Qala district in Takhar," spokesman Hamid Mubariz told Xinhua.

The province has been the scene of heavy clashes recently.

KABUL, June 13 (Xinhua) -- A handover ceremony of China-donated COVID-19 vaccines has been held at the Afghan presidential palace in Kabul.

Afghan President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani, Acting Minister of Public Health Wahid Majrooh, senior officials from the Afghan government and Chinese Ambassador to Afghanistan Wang Yu attended the event on Saturday.

"Vaccine is a gift of life and we thank China for its help," President Ghani told audience at the handover ceremony.

(Reuters) --- Blasts hit two buses in western Kabul on Saturday, killing at least seven people, according to police.

The explosions took place in a neighbourhood dominated by the minority Hazara community where similar attacks on buses earlier this month killed 12 civilians. 

Basir Mujahid, Kabul's police spokesman, added that six people had also been wounded in Saturday's blasts.

12 June 2021; AA: Afghanistan on Saturday announced the nationwide closure of all educational institutions amid surging coronavirus infections and deaths in the country.

According to the Health Ministry, all kindergartners, high schools as well as universities and religious seminars would remain closed for at least two more weeks as the county's fragile health system grapples with mounting third wave of the pandemic.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Just running errands in the mainly Hazara neighborhoods of west Kabul can be dangerous. One day last week, Adila Khiari and her two daughters went out to buy new curtains. Soon after, her son heard that a minibus had been bombed — the fourth to be blown up in just 48 hours.

(Reuters) --- Afghan government and Taliban negotiators met in Qatar's capital Doha this week to discuss the peace process, the first known meeting in weeks after negotiations largely stalled earlier this year.

Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen said in a statement on Twitter on Wednesday that the heads of both teams, along with some of their negotiators, had met the previous day in Doha.

"They discussed topics of the agenda, accelerating the Afghan negotiations process and reaching mutual understanding in this regard," he said.

(Reuters) --- Turkey has offered to guard and run Kabul's airport after the United States and other NATO forces withdraw from Afghanistan, but U.S. officials say Ankara is imposing conditions which need to be resolved as their leaders prepare to meet next week.

Turkish officials say Ankara made the proposal at a NATO meeting in May when the United States and its partners agreed a plan to withdraw troops by Sept. 11 after 20 years of war trying to defeat Taliban forces. 

(Reuters) --- At least 150 Afghan troops have been killed or injured in the last 24 hours in a surge of attacks by Taliban militants as foreign forces withdraw, senior government officials said on Monday.

Fighting is now raging in 26 of the country's 34 provinces, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Casualties were "shockingly high", one added.

The government says clashes over territory have increased as the United States pushes on with an operation to withdraw all its remaining troops by Sept. 11. 

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A minivan carrying civilian passengers in northwest Afghanistan was hit by a roadside bomb, leaving at least 11 passengers dead, including three children, an Afghan official said Sunday.

The minivan fell into a valley with the shock of the explosion Saturday, said Badghis provincial Gov. Hesamuddin Shams, adding that rescuers were still searching for bodies in the valley.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghanistan is battling a brutal surge in COVID-19 infections as health officials plead for vaccines, only to be told by the World Health Organization that the 3 million doses the country expected to receive by April won’t be delivered until August.

“We are in the middle of a crisis,” Health Ministry spokesman Ghulam Dastigir Nazari said this week, expressing deep frustration at the global vaccine distribution that has left poor countries scrambling to find supplies for their people.