Afghanistan Times

AT-KABUL: A number of parliamentarians say the decision to put an end to the ongoing war in Afghanistan lies in the hands of outsiders. Members of Wolesi Jirga during a Monday session said the current conflict is not an Afghan war and that eight insurgent groups hailing from several countries …

In the past three decades, close to 99 percent of Hindu and Sikh citizens of Afghanistan have left the country. An investigation by TOLOnews reveals that the Sikh and Hindu population number was 220,000 in the 1980’s. That number dropped sharply to 15,000 when the mujahideen took power during the …

AT-KABUL: The Taliban have overrun four villages in Faizabad district of Jawzjan province, local authorities said Monday, as conflict is escalating in the tumultuous northern region. The villages of Garjak, Shishakhana, Turkmania, Shirabad, and Khairabad are among the collapsed ones. The Shibighan-Balkh Highway would be closed to traffic if no …

AT-KABUL: As the spectre of ceding the Taliban autonomous regions in the south as part of a ploy to reconcile the unruly faction is gaining traction, the Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah has delivered a scathing critique over likely so-called safe zones, which he argued would unleash irreversible consequences as insurgent …

By Farhad Naibkhel-KABUL: The Ministry of Public Health on Monday announced the launch of a campaign to administer polio vaccines to children countrywide, amid fears anti-polio workers may not reach out to over one million children due to widespread unrest. “In each polio vaccination drive, MoPH targets about 6.5 million …

AT-KABUL: As full-fledged efforts of the government and its allies are underway to resuscitate an ailing reconciliation initiative, a handful of senators on Saturday heaped scorns on what they called the “policy of begging for peace” which would prove counterproductive, saying that stringent measures to dismantle terrorist networks were more …

AT-KABUL: The Afghan government and the United States are making systematic arrangements to prolong tenure of the current government of national unity through a Constitutional Loya Jirga. Political analysts believe that the government neither has the intention of neither holding transparent elections nor bringing peace; and that elections are engineered …

The unilateral ceasefire that lasted for 18 days ended. But anytime could be resumed. President Ashraf Ghani already said he was ready to extend the ceasefire anytime when the Taliban are ready. Offensive operations took up again on Saturday after Ghani called off truce with the Taliban. There was much …

AT-KABUL: Southern Kandahar’s Police Chief Gen. Abdul Raziq has claimed that he had recently participated in talks with Taliban’s Quetta Council leaders and is encouraging them to contemplate entering peace talks with the Afghan government. And according to Gen. Raziq, almost half of the Taliban leaders representing the Quetta Shura …

AT-KABUL: An international conglomerate for development assistance has lent support to the Afghan government’s continued efforts for rapprochement with the Taliban group. The members of International Contact Group (ICG) in a meeting in Azerbaijan have described truce overture of the Afghan government as a ‘bold step’ which defines commitments of …