Kabul, Afghanistan | AFP | Afghanistan Sunday declared a day of national mourning as the toll for those killed by a huge bomb hidden in an ambulance in Kabul topped 100 people and tensions remained high after insurgents struck in the city for the second time in a week. At …
Read More »Ambulance bomb kills 40, wounds 140 in Kabul attack: officials
Kabul, Afghanistan | AFP | An ambulance packed with explosives blew up in a crowded area of Kabul on Saturday, killing at least 40 people and wounding 140 others, officials said, in an attack claimed by the Taliban. The explosion — one of the biggest since a truck bomb ripped …
Read More »Save the Children suspends operations in Afghanistan after IS attack
Jalalabad, Afghanistan | AFP | Save the Children suspended operations across Afghanistan on Wednesday as Islamic State militants terrorised staff trapped inside one of its offices in an hours-long attack, the latest assault on a foreign charity. Gunmen blasted their way into the British aid group’s compound in the eastern city …
Read More »Grieving Afghans end deadly year with tears and funerals
Kabul, Afghanistan | AFP | Mourners on a cold, barren hill outside Kabul wept Friday as they buried loved ones killed in a suicide attack targeting Shiites, the latest victims in one of the bloodiest years in the war-torn country. At a Shiite cemetery spread over the hills dozens of …
Read More »Thousands more US troops arrive in Afghanistan: general
Washington, United States | AFP | Approximately 3,000 additional American troops have now deployed to Afghanistan under President Donald Trump’s revised strategy for the war-torn country, the Pentagon said Thursday. The Pentagon had previously put the number of US forces in Afghanistan at about 11,000 but Trump in August authorized an …
Read More »Afghan police foil truck bomber in Kabul: officials
Kabul, Afghanistan | AFP | Afghan police seized a lorry packed with explosives hidden under boxes of tomatoes in Kabul, officials said Sunday, averting a potentially deadly blast in the capital months after a massive truck bomb killed and wounded hundreds. Police shot and wounded the driver of the vehicle …
Read More »Bomb kills four Pakistani troops searching for kidnappers
Islamabad, Pakistan | AFP | A bomb Sunday killed four Pakistani soldiers as they searched for militants linked to the kidnapping of a US-Canadian family who were freed last week. The incident happened near the Kharlachi checkpoint in Kurram district in the restive tribal belt bordering Afghanistan. The family were being …
Read More »Six rockets land near Kabul airport after Mattis arrives: official
Kabul, Afghanistan | AFP | US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis arrived in Afghanistan Wednesday, the first member of Donald Trump’s cabinet to visit the war-torn country since he pledged to stay the course in America’s longest war. In a sign of the country’s continuing insecurity six rockets landed near Kabul international …
Read More »US watchdog highlights flawed training of Afghan forces
Washington, United States | AFP | US efforts to train Afghanistan’s security forces are being hampered by slapdash instruction, shoddy oversight and governance failures, a watchdog warned Thursday as America sends thousands more troops to the war-torn nation. American assistance to the Afghan army and police has topped $70 billion since …
Read More »From poppy to heroin: Taliban move into Afghan drug production
Kabul, Afghanistan | AFP | The Taliban — which banned poppy cultivation when it ruled Afghanistan — now appears to wield significant control over the war-torn country’s heroin production line, providing insurgents with billions of dollars, officials have told AFP. In 2016 Afghanistan, which produces 80 percent of the world’s …
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