Al-Qaeda leadership on Saturday said that the US national Warren Weinstein and Italian national Lo Porto Giovanni , who were killed in January’s US drone strike near the Pak-Afghan border were ‘converted to Islam’ during their captivity. President Barack Obama regretted their deaths after taking responsibility for the accidental killings …

AT Monitoring Desk-KABUL: Former Minister of Education, Farooq Wardak, on Saturday rejected report of Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) about misuse of US aid in the Ministry of Education (MoE). Recently, the incumbent Education Minister, Asadullah Balkhi, told Wolesi Jirga that the former administration dispatched salaries and resources …

AT-KABUL:  Political and security affairs analysts tagged Pakistan’s policies towards Afghanistan as “dual and deceptive” and said the ties were more about geo-strategy than geo-economics as Afghan traders were forced to remain struck by bureaucratic hurdles in the neighboring country. In a monthly gathering of the Rana Think Tank, the …

AT-KABUL: Seventy militants and 10 troops were killed in different military operations launched in various parts of the country. In a media statement issued here on Saturday, Ministry of Defense (MoD) said that 70 militants and 10 Afghan National Army (ANA) troops were killed within the past 48 hours. The …

AT Monitoring Desk-KABUL: Ministry of Defense (MoD) rejected the recently published report which claimed 75 increase in Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) casualties in the current year. Spokesman for the defense ministry, General Dawlat Waziri, acknowledged increase in security forces casualties, but said that figures in the report were exaggerated …

AT Monitoring Desk-KABUL: As many as 13 Taliban insurgents and a civilian were killed in different security-related incidents in Kunduz and Helmand provinces, sources said on Saturday. Police chief for Helmand province, Col. Nabi Jan Mullahkhail, told a local news agency that eight militants were taken out and 15 others …

KABUL — As he listened, Wali Mohammad Darwazi’s worst fears came true. His 23-year-old son, Mohammad Rafi, had vanished two months before with several former classmates from Kabul University. Now, Darwazi was on the phone with one of the classmates, whom he had reached in Syria. “Rafi has been martyred,” …

AT-KABUL: President Ashraf Ghani extended the term of the current parliament and said lawmakers would continue working until results of a new election were announced. The five year long mandate of the current parliament is set to be ended on June 22, but the election, scheduled for April, was delayed …

AT Monitoring Desk-KABUL: Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Pakistan will soon sign a trilateral transit and trade agreement which will enhance economic and trade relations between the three regional countries, Pakistani media reported on Friday. Accrding to Tajikistan Ambassador, Sherali S Jononov, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Tajikistan President Emomali Rahmon …

AT Monitoring Desk-KABUL: India will invest at least $9 million to build Charikar water supply system in central Parwan province which will be completed within a year, local official said on Friday. Quoted by Pajhwok Afghan News, the director of technical services, Himat said completion of the project will fill …