Tolo News: The game, also known in Afghanistan as Naiza Bazi, is a mounted cavalry sport of ancient origin, and is one of only ten equestrian disciplines officially recognized by the International Equestrian Federation. The sport has been a popular fixture for generations in Afghanistan – particularly in the eastern provinces and across the Durand LineRead More...

Global Voices: The Chief Executive of Afghanistan’s National Unity Government Abdullah Abdullah entered the presidential race for the third consecutive time on January 27, 2018, the last day of candidate registration for the July vote. He will be one of the more serious challengers for race favourite and incumbent President Ashraf Ghani — his bitter rivalRead More...

1TV: Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and the Afghan Taliban representatives are likely to meet each other in Pakistan amid stepped up diplomatic efforts for peace in Afghanistan, it was reported on Saturday. The prince’s visit to Pakistan is expected to start on Sunday. Taliban have already confirmed their plan to meet US officialsRead More...

Michael Hughes: The Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) attack on Indian troops in Kashmir could waste some of the goodwill Pakistan had built up with the Trump administration vis-à-vis the Taliban peace talks. Islamabad was on the verge of a major diplomatic coup in Kabul but now may have “snatched defeat from the jaws of victory,” as they say.Read More...

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty February 15, 2019 The U.S. military is expected to trim troop levels in Afghanistan by more than 1,000 soldiers, a U.S. general told Reuters on February 15. U.S. President Donald Trump told Congress this month he intended to reduce U.S. forces in Afghanistan as negotiators make progress in talks with TalibanRead More...

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty February 15, 2019 The Save the Children International charity says at least 100,000 babies die every year because of armed conflict and related effects, with Afghanistan listed as among the 10 worst countries to be a child. “Increasingly, the brunt of armed violence and warfare is being borne by children,” theRead More...

By Frud Bezhan Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty February 14, 2019 n February 14, 1979, Adolph Dubs, the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, was kidnapped at gunpoint, held hostage in a Kabul hotel, and killed in a botched rescue attempt. Forty years on, the precise circumstances surrounding the death of the 58-year-old diplomat remain shrouded in mystery.Read More...

Press TV February 14, 2019 The Afghan Taliban militant group says it is to meet with American representatives in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad next week for a new round of direct negotiations, which have so far excluded the Afghan government itself. The militant group said on Wednesday that separate meetings would be held inRead More...

RFE/RL’s Radio Free Afghanistan February 13, 2019 Afghanistan is mourning Sibghatullah Mojaddedi, the country’s first president after Soviet forces withdrew 30 years ago following a war of occupation. Mojaddedi, a mujahedin commander who fought against the Soviet Army in the 1980s, died late on February 11 in a Kabul hospital. He was 93. A mourningRead More...

By RFE/RL’s Radio Free Afghanistan February 13, 2019 Afghan authorities say they have launched an investigation into allegations that two electoral commissions misused their authority during last year’s general elections. The country’s Attorney General’s Office announced the investigation late on February 12, after all 12 members of the Independent Election Commission (IEC) and Independent ElectoralRead More...

The Media Line: Israeli troops reportedly are using a United States military base in Afghanistan from which to monitor and collect information on Iranian activities throughout the Persian Gulf. The Israeli special forces allegedly are operating with the approval of Kabul out of a U.S. Air Force installation in the western Afghanistan province of HeratRead More...

Ariana:  In a statement released on Tuesday, the Taliban said that their negotiating team is headed by Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai, a leading negotiator of the armed group. The list also includes Anas Haqqani,  – the brother of Sirajuddin Haqqani, leader of the Haqqani network – who is being held in Kabul. Taliban spokesman ZabihullahRead More...

Ayaz Gul VOA News February 12, 2019 ISLAMABAD — China plans to fund and install modern reception centers, drinking water and cold storage facilities at main entry points on the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan. The Chinese project aims to better serve the daily movement of tens of thousands of people as well as trade convoys,Read More...

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty February 12, 2019 A commander of the so-called Muslim Battalion of Soviet troops in Afghanistan, retired Colonel Boris Kerimbaev, has died at the age of 71 in Kazakhstan. Kerimbaev died in Almaty on February 12. He gained prominence in 1981-83 when he commanded the Soviet Army’s 177th special battalion, which wasRead More...

Tolo News: All commissioners from the two electoral commissions – the Independent Election Commission (IEC) and the Independent Electoral Complaints Commission (IECC) – were dismissed from their posts, including the two chiefs, after President Ashraf Ghani signed off on an amendment to the electoral law.  Ghani approved the amendment on Tuesday, which resulted in the instantRead More...

Tolo News: President Ashraf Ghani on Monday called for a grand consultative Jirga, a traditional assembly, on the peace process in the country amid Washington’s marathon diplomatic efforts to facilitate direct talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban who has been fighting against Afghan and foreign forces over the past 18 years.  “At the Jirga, peopleRead More...

Al Jazeera: Before there was Guantanamo, there was Bagram, a US detention site near its giant airbase in Afghanistan, which came to be synonymous with torture and prisoner abuse.  But when the US relinquished control of the prison, now called Parwan Detention Facility, to Afghan security forces in December 2014, Washington renounced responsibility for the men once held there.  “The Bagram prison was a melting potRead More...

Tolo News: The Afghan government is reportedly working on a plan to create five new provinces in the country, rising the number of provinces to 39 from the current 34.  The Independent Directorate of Local Governance (IDLG) has confirmed the plan, but has not revealed details.  Sources said that government might declare Shinwar district of Nangarhar, JaghoriRead More...

South China Morning Post: Raffaello Pantucci says it is not clear that Beijing fully appreciates the role it is taking on by trying to broker peace in strife-torn Afghanistan. Beijing may assume that by brokering a negotiation, it buys itself immunity from these problems. But as the US withdraws from the region, regional powers will increasingly lookRead More...

Ayesha Tanzeem VOA News February 8, 2019 ISLAMABAD — When Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani laid out the red carpet in 2017 for controversial Afghan warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar — once known as “the Butcher of Kabul” for his role in the bloody conflict for the control of the capital in the 1990s — many thought he wasRead More...

VOA News February 9, 2019 The top U.S. negotiator in peace talks with Afghanistan’s Taliban leaders says he hopes a peace agreement can be achieved before Afghanistan’s next set of elections just five months away. Zalmay Khalilzad, U.S. special representative for Afghanistan reconciliation, spoke Friday to an audience at the United States Institute of PeaceRead More...

Ariana:  Former President Hamid Karzai who attended the two-day Moscow Talks has called for convening Loya Jirga (Grand Assembly) to resolve the ongoing crisis in the country. Speaking with Russia’s Sputnik News Agency, Karzai hailed Moscow’s role in facilitating the Afghan politicians meeting with the Taliban representatives.  Karzai said the outcomes of the Moscow meetingRead More...

UN Children’s Fund: Afghanistan is one of the three polio endemic countries in the world, alongside Pakistan and Nigeria. In 2018, there were 21 wild poliovirus cases in Afghanistan making it the country with the largest number of cases last year, while 12 cases were reported in Pakistan and zero in Nigeria. It is importantRead More...

The Afghan government has serious concerns about the violence perpetrated against peaceful protestors and civil activists in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan. — Ashraf Ghani (@ashrafghani) February 7, 2019 1TV:  Fresh protests by Pashtun Tahafuz Movement, which was founded a year ago to protest the death of Pashtun man killed by police, come following the deathRead More...

HRW: Afghan authorities should fully investigate and appropriately prosecute the sexual assault claims by 20 members of Afghanistan’s national women’s football team, Human Rights Watch said today. The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), football’s world governing body, should assist and monitor Afghan government prosecutions and promote justice for the victims, protection of witnesses, and safetyRead More...