An Afghan official says that Pir Sayed Ahmed Gailani, chief of Afghanistan’s High Peace Council, tasked with negotiating an end to the country’s protracted conflict, has died at age 84. Mohammed Karim Khalili, deputy head of the council, told The Associated Press that Gailani died in Kabul earlier Friday. The exact cause of death was not immediately reported but he had been ill.
Category: Afghanistan
Bomb blast kill 20, wounds at least 50 in northwest Pakistan
A bomb exploded Saturday in a market in a northwest tribal region that borders Afghanistan, killing 20 people and wounding at least 50, officials said. Dr. Sabir Hussain at the main hospital in Parachinar, the capital of Pakistan’s Kurram tribal region, said two wounded victims died during treatment, raising the death toll to 20 Saturday.
‘India Using Terrorism to Create Unrest…
Pakistan today accused India of “perpetrating terrorism” and “terror financing”, claiming that it has “irrefutable evidence” on it. Foreign Office Spokesman Nafees Zakaria, during his weekly briefing, alleged that “Indian involvement” in Pakistan’s internal matters was a long-standing problem that Pakistan has been raising with the international community.
COMMENTARY: Obama’s self-revealing final act
Barack Obama did not go out quietly. His unquiet final acts were, in part, overshadowed by a successor who refused to come in quietly and, in part, by Obama’s own endless, sentimental farewell tour.
An inquest is taking place into the death of Lance Corporal James Brynin
A British soldier will not face prosecution over the death of a comrade on an Afghan battlefield four years ago, an inquest has heard. The inquest into Lance Corporal James Brynin’s death was halted after six days of evidence last year amid fears the fatality, which was initially suspected to have been caused by “friendly fire”, may have been a homicide.
Afghan Senators call on President Ashraf Ghani to dissolve High Peace Council4 min ago
Kabul , Jan. 16 : Senators from Upper House of Parliament in Afghanistan have asked President Ashraf Ghani to dissolve the High Peace Council following the insensitive remarks made by former HPC advisor Abdul Hakim Mujahid. According to the senators, those who call the Taliban peace angels and say they are a sacred group are disrespecting all civilians killed by the Taliban, reports the Tolo News.
PHOTOS: ‘Forgotten victims of war’ to be highlighted in Hampshire photography exhibition
Internally displaced Afghans are living in “stone age conditions,” uprooted from their homes and villages after years of civil war and escape from Taliban fighting. The ex-Stroud School pupil who grew up on Northlands Road, Southampton, will be showing a selection of his work from the last eight years at city centre coffee shop Mettricks Guildhall.
U.S. military confirms that November firefight with Taliban killed 33 civilians in Afghanistan
Afghan villagers gather on Nov. 4 around several victims’ bodies who were killed during clashes between Taliban and Afghan security forces in the Taliban-controlled, Buz-e Kandahari village in Kunduz province, Afghanistan. In a statement released Thursday, the U.S. military in Afghanistan said the results of its investigation into the November firefight shows that American troops had fired on Afghan homes, killing 33 civilians.
Taliban release video showing American, Australian captives
This image made from video released by the Taliban on Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2017 shows an Australian identified as Timothy Weekes making a statement on camera while in captivity. The video shows Weekes and an American who were kidnapped in August, the first time they’ve been seen since their abduction.
United Arab Emirates says 5 diplomats killed in Afghan blast
The United Arab Emirates announced on Wednesday that five of its diplomats were killed in a bombing in southern Afghanistan the day before, one of the worst attacks to target the young nation’s diplomatic corps. The federation of seven sheikhdoms, founded in 1971 on the Arabian Peninsula, said it would immediately fly the nation’s flag at half-staff for three days in honour of the dead from the attack Tuesday in Kandahar.
Twin Blasts Kill Dozens In Kabul, Afghanistan
Afghan security personnel arrive at the site of two bombs on Tuesday near the Afghan parliament in Kabul. Wakil Kohsar /AFP/Getty Images hide caption Two bomb blasts near the parliament building in Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, have killed at least 30 people and injured at least 70. “The first bomb exploded near a parked minibus,” NPR’s Nishant Dahiya reported.
US Official Says 300 US Marines Will Deploy in Afghanistan
Approximately 300 United States Marines will be deployed to train, advise and assist Afghan security forces in the southern province of Helmand. A Resolute Support Mission spokesman, U.S. Navy Capt.
Gunmen kill eight Hazara miners in Afghanistan
Unidentified gunmen killed eight members of Afghanistan’s Hazara minority who were working as miners in the northern province of Baghlan, a local government official said. Faiz Mohammad Amiri, governor of Taleh va Barfak district, said the eight dead and three other wounded, who all came from Daykundi province in central Afghanistan, had been pulled out of a vehicle and shot on Friday.
World briefs: False report triggers recoil in Germany
It was every God-fearing Christian’s worst nightmare about Muslim refugees. “Revealed,” the Breitbart News headline screamed, “1,000-Man Mob Attack Police, Set Germany’s Oldest Church Alight on New Year’s Eve.”
Queen bees: The honey co-ops giving Afghan women control
In the mountainous central province of Bamiyan, one of the country’s least developed but most liberal regions, beekeeping complements its only other commercial crop, potatoes, and gives rural women the chance to become entrepreneurs. Four beekeeping cooperatives have been set up here in recent years, backed by NGOs and foreign aid.
PTSD suspected in murders
Lionel Desmond was part of the 2nd battalion, of the Royal Canadian Regiment, based at CFB Gagetown and shown in this 2007 handout photo taken in Panjwai district in between patrol base Wilson and Masum Ghar in Afghanistan. A clearer picture is emerging of Desmond, the former soldier involved in an apparent murder-suicide in Nova Scotia, with his own words on social media revealing a man struggling with PTSD who was trying to get his life back.THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Facebook-Trev Bungay A clearer picture is emerging of the former soldier involved in an apparent murder-suicide in Nova Scotia, with his own words on social media revealing a man struggling with PTSD who was trying to get his life back.
Osama bin Laden’s son designated as a terrorist by State Department
The State Department announced today that Osama bin Laden’s son, Hamza, has been added to the US government’s list of designated terrorists. State cites Hamza’s appearances in al Qaeda’s propaganda since Aug. 2015 as evidence of his important role.
Taliban ramp up attacks in southwestern Afghanistan as NATO casualties hit a low
The Taliban have continued their assault on Afghanistan’s southwestern Helmand province with fresh attacks in two key districts, Afghan security forces said, as NATO announced that its forces last year suffered the fewest casualties since the U.S. invasion in 2001. The latest round of fighting began Dec. 31 in Sangin and Marjah districts, a provincial spokesman said.
8 Killed in Taliban Assault on Lawmaker’s Home in Kabul
Afghan authorities say an overnight Taliban assault targeting the home of a lawmaker in the capital, Kabul, left at least eight people dead and many wounded. The 13-hour siege ended early Thursday when a gunfight with Afghan special forces left all the assailants dead, police told reporters.
Afghan Taliban reiterate demands for peace talks with US
A spokesman for the Afghan Taliban says the group is ready for peace talks with the United States, if their demands are met. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said earlier this week that their two conditions for peace talks are the removal of the group leader’s name from the U.N. blacklist and the withdrawal of all foreign forces from Afghanistan.
American-Canadian Couple Appears in Taliban Hostage Video
A still image from a video posted by the Taliban on social media on Dec. 19, 2016, shows American Caitlan Coleman speaking next to her Canadian husband, Joshua Boyle, and their two sons. The Canadian government is calling for the release of a couple who has been held in captivity in northern Afghanistan for four years, after captors released a video of the pair.
Local Taliban Commander Killed In Afghan Checkpoint Clash
The Afghan police repelled a Taliban attack on security checkpoint in the eastern province of Laghman on Monday, killing three militant, China’s Xinhua news agency reported quoting the provincial government. “Armed militants stormed an Afghan Local Police post in Dawlat Shahi district roughly at 1.30 am local time and the ALP fought back the attack after three hours exchange of firing, killing three militants,” it said in a statement.
57 journalists killed worldwide in 2016: rights group
At least 57 journalists have been killed around the world in 2016 while doing their job, Reporters Without Borders said on Monday. The press freedom group said 19 were killed in Syria alone, followed by 10 in Afghanistan, nine in Mexico and five in Iraq.
NCO killed in Afghanistan posthumously promoted, awarded Bronze Star
Sgt. John Perry, 30, was posthumously promoted to staff sergeant and awarded the Bronze Star after being killed in a suicide bombing at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan. Perry, 30, of Stockton, California, and Pfc.