Afghanistan

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The Taliban’s ruling council agreed Sunday to a temporary cease-fire in Afghanistan, providing a window in which a peace agreement with the United States can be signed, officials from the insurgent group said. They didn’t say when it would begin.

A cease-fire had been demanded by Washington before any peace agreement could be signed. A peace deal would allow the U.S. to bring home its troops from Afghanistan and end its 18-year military engagement there, America’s longest.

The White House said it would have no comment.

PUL-E-CHARKHI, Afghanistan (AP) — Thousands of Taliban prisoners jailed in Afghanistan as insurgents see a peace deal being hammered out between the United States and the Taliban as their ticket to freedom.

They know a prisoner release is a key pillar of any agreement that brings an end to Afghanistan’s 18-year war, Washington’s longest military engagement.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The Taliban ambushed a peace convoy in western Afghanistan and abducted 26 activists, members of a peace movement, a police spokesman said Wednesday.

The insurgents staged the ambush in the district of Bala Buluk in Farah province on Tuesday. The Taliban forced the six-vehicle convoy to a halt, then got into the cars and drove them and the activists to an unknown location, said the provincial police spokesman Mohibullah Mohib.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — An American service member was killed in combat Monday in Afghanistan, the U.S. military said, without providing further details, while the Taliban claimed they were behind a roadside bombing in northern Kunduz province that killed the U.S. soldier.

The latest fatality brings the number of U.S. deaths in Afghanistan this year to 20. There have also been three non-combat deaths in 2019. More than 2,400 Americans have died in the nearly 18-year conflict.

Kabul, Dec 22 (AFP/PTI) Afghanistan's President Ashraf Ghani was on track to win a second term Sunday, after election officials announced he had scored a majority in presidential elections.

According to the Independent Election Commission, Ghani won 50.64 percent of the vote in the September 28 poll, while his rival Abdullah Abdullah scored 39.52 percent.

Candidates have the opportunity to lodge any complaints before a final result is published.

KABUL, Dec 23 (NNN-AGENCIES) – One U.S. soldier of the NATO-led Resolute Support mission (RS) was killed, during clashes in Afghanistan early today (Monday), and the Taliban militants claimed responsibility.

“A U.S. service member was killed in action today, in Afghanistan,” the coalition said, in a brief statement.

The statement did not provide details, only saying, “In accordance with U.S. Department of Defence policy, the name of the service member killed in action is being withheld for 24 hours, after notification of next of kin.”

KABUL (Reuters) - Afghanistan’s incumbent President, Ashraf Ghani, won a slim majority of votes in a Sept. 28 election, delayed preliminary results showed on Sunday, in a poll that plunged the country into political uncertainty.

The Independent Election Commission (IEC) said the total turnout in the presidential election, which was marred by allegations of massive fraud, was 1.9 million with Ghani securing 50.64%, enough to win the first round of voting.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham said Monday that President Donald Trump may announce an American troop drawdown from Afghanistan before the year’s end, which would likely begin next year.

Graham, speaking from the Afghan capital of Kabul, said the president could reduce troop numbers to 8,600, down from the current estimated 12,000.

’“If President Trump decides in the next few weeks to reduce our forces below the 12,000 we have, I could support that,” he said.

KABUL, Dec 12 (NNN-XINHUA) – The Taliban outfit has claimed responsibility for the attack on the main U.S. military base in Bagram, 50 km north of Kabul that left eight dead including six attackers, two civilians and over 70 civilians injured.

In the bloody offensive, which begun with a truck bomb at 05:50 a.m. local time, outside the south wall of the largest base of the U.S.-led coalition forces in Bagram, according to Interior Ministry spokesman, Nasrat Rahimi, two civilians, including a woman, were killed and more than 70 others wounded.

KABUL, Dec. 12 (Xinhua) -- The Taliban outfit has claimed responsibility for the attack on the main U.S. military base in Bagram 50 km north of Kabul on Wednesday that left eight dead including six attackers, two civilians and over 70 civilians injured.

In the bloody offensive which begun with a truck bomb at 05:50 a.m. local time outside the south wall of the largest base of the U.S.-led coalition forces in Bagram, according to Interior Ministry spokesman Nasrat Rahimi, two civilians including a woman were killed and more than 70 others wounded.