Afghan Official Accuses U.S. of Undermining Peace Talks
The U.S. State Department summoned Afghanistan’s national security advisor, Hamdullah Mohib, after he criticized U.S. officials for excluding the Kabul government in their negotiations with the Taliban and accused U.S. envoy Zalmay Khalilzad of having ambition to become a viceroy of the country (TOLO)
U.S. Air Strikes Destroy Afghan Army Base
At least five Afghan soldiers were killed and at least nine other wounded in U.S. air strikes on an Afghan Army base in Uruzgun Province today, after a joint U.S.-Afghan patrol came under fire from the base (New York Times)
Taliban Overrun Entire Afghan Army Company
A Taliban attack on Afghan security forces in northwestern Badghis Province yesterday reportedly killed sixteen Afghan soldiers and resulted in the capture of forty others (New York Times)
Afghan Government Refutes Claims About Taliban Leader
A presidential spokesperson tweeted that a new report claiming that Taliban founder Mullah Omar lived within walking distance of U.S. bases in Afghanistan for years is “delusional” and said that the Afghan government has sufficient evidence Omar lived and died in Pakistan (TOLO)
The report was published by the Zomia Center, a New York–based research group (Wall Street Journal)
Three Dead in Attack on Politicians in Afghan Capital
At least three people were killed today when mortars were fired at a political gathering of hundreds of people, including Afghan Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah and former President Hamid Karzai. No group, including the Taliban, immediately claimed responsibility (Associated Press)
Attack in Afghanistan Kills Sixteen Civilians
Gunmen, following a suicide explosion, attacked a construction company in Jalalabad today that killed at least sixteen civilians; the Taliban denied responsibility for the attack (New York Times)
Taliban Attack Afghan Army Base, Killing Forty
The Taliban stormed an Afghan military base in Helmand province early today, killing at least twenty-three security forces personnel and as many as forty, according to conflicting reports from Afghan officials. The attack comes as a Taliban delegation is set to resume negotiations with a U.S. delegation in Qatar (New York Times)
Taliban Claims to Be Near Deal on U.S. Troop Withdrawal From Afghanistan
The Taliban said it is nearing an agreement with the United States on the withdrawal of foreign forces in Afghanistan, noting a deal could require an additional round of talks (Associated Press)
Afghanistan to Host Loya Jirga Next Month
Afghanistan announced plans to hold a loya jirga on March 17 to discuss peace and the Taliban insurgency. The grand assembly will consist of more than two thousand participants, including tribal elders and political leaders (Reuters)
Separately, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, a cofounder of the Taliban recently released from prison in Pakistan, met with U.S. special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad in Qatar today (BBC)
UN Releases Report on Afghan Civilian Causalities
According to a new report more than 3,800 Afghan civilians were killed and another 7,200 injured last year, the highest level since the UN started keeping track in 2009. The report said insurgents were responsible for close to two-thirds of casualties, while U.S. and coalition air strikes were the cause of 24 percent (Associated Press)
CENTCOM Commander: ISIS in Afghanistan Poses ‘Sophisticated and Dangerous Threat’
In an interview yesterday, U.S. Central Command commander General Joseph Votel said that the Afghanistan-based branch of the Islamic State “represents a very sophisticated and dangerous threat,” and that the group “are closest to having the capacity to attack the homeland from Afghanistan” (CNN)
Afghanistan’s Ghani Dissolves Election Commission
President Ashraf Ghani’s government dismissed the national electoral commission and called for nominations for new members within a week. The move comes three months after chaotic parliamentary elections, the results of which have not yet been released, and the postponement of a presidential election originally set for April (Associated Press)
Afghanistan’s Ghani Calls for Grand Assembly
President Ashraf Ghani called for a grand jirga, or a traditional assembly, to discuss Afghan peace efforts in the coming weeks. Ghani said leaders should determine the “scale of flexibility and the cost of peace” (TOLO)
U.S. Acting Defense Secretary Visits Afghanistan
U.S. acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan arrived in Afghanistan where he met with President Ashraf Ghani and U.S. military commanders (CNN)
Separately, local officials and residents in Afghanistan’s Helmand Province reported that U.S. air strikes killed at least ten civilians this weekend (New York Times)
Kabul Files UN Complaint Over Moscow Meeting
The Afghan government lodged a complaint at the United Nations after members of the Taliban were permitted to travel to Moscow to meet with Afghan opposition figures this week. The militant group is on a UN blacklist that imposes asset freezes and travel bans (TOLO)
Afghan Taliban: Half of U.S. Troops to Leave
A Taliban official meeting with Afghan opposition members in Moscow this week announced that the United States has agreed to withdraw half of its troops from Afghanistan by the end of April. The Pentagon reported that U.S. peace talks with the Taliban are ongoing but that there has been no directive to change force levels (Al Jazeera)
Taliban, Afghan Opposition to Meet in Moscow
Two days of meetings between Taliban officials and prominent Afghan politicians opposed to the Kabul government, including former President Hamid Karzai, begin in Moscow tomorrow. According to Russia’s embassy in Kabul a Moscow-based diaspora organization called the Council of Afghan Society planned the meetings (Voice of America)
Ghani Reportedly Appeals to Trump on U.S. Troops in Afghanistan
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani wrote a letter to U.S. President Donald J. Trump proposing reduced costs for keeping U.S. troops in Afghanistan, according to an unnamed senior Afghan official who read the letter (New York Times)
U.S. Envoy Reports Progress on Afghan Peace Framework
U.S. and Taliban officials have reached a draft peace framework following close to a week of talks in Qatar, U.S. special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad said today (New York Times)
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, briefed by Khalilzad over the weekend, sought to reassure Afghans that the Kabul government would be involved in any final deal with the militant group and again called on the Taliban to agree to direct talks (TOLO)
Civilians Killed in Afghan Air Strike
An air strike in southern Helmand Province reportedly killed sixteen civilians today as Afghan forces and Taliban fighters engage in heavy fighting near the town of Sangin (Associated Press)
Separately, talks between the United States and Taliban delegates in Qatar went on for a fourth day, with the sides reportedly discussing conditions for a withdrawal of international forces from Afghanistan, a potential ceasefire, and mechanisms for an intra-Afghan dialogue (Al Jazeera)
U.S. Serviceman Killed in Afghanistan
The NATO-led coalition did not identify the soldier, who was killed yesterday by small arms fire. He is the second U.S. servicemember to have died in Afghanistan in the past week (TOLO)
U.S., Taliban Continue Peace Talks Despite Attack
An attack claimed by the Taliban in Wardak Province yesterday killed dozens of security personnel, with some estimates putting the toll at more than one hundred, after a suicide bomber detonated a car bomb at an intelligence training center and then gunmen assaulted the base (Reuters)
The attack came the same day as delegates from the United States, led by U.S. envoy Zalmay Khalilzad, and the Taliban began another round of peace talks in Qatar (Voice of America)
Afghans Protest Foreign NGO Complex in Kabul
Kabul residents are calling for the so-called Green Village, a compound housing foreign nongovernmental organizations and international firms, to be moved out of their neighborhood after it was targeted in a Monday bombing that killed four people and wounded more than a hundred others (Al Jazeera)
The compound has been targeted four times in the last decade, according to the Interior Ministry (TOLO)
Taliban: Dialogue With U.S. Halted
A Taliban spokesperson said that negotiations with the United States have “halted for now” but did not provide a reason for the pause. The statement came as U.S. special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad visits Afghanistan, China, India, and Pakistan as part of efforts to negotiate an end to the seventeen-year U.S. war (Voice of America)
Taliban: Round of U.S. Peace Talks Canceled
Taliban officials said peace talks with the United States that were set to begin in Qatar today were called off due to disagreements over the agenda and the inclusion of the Kabul government, which the militant group considers illegitimate. U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan John Bass called reports on the talks “inaccurate” (Reuters)