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Violent Extremism in South Asia

Parliamentary Elections Delayed in Afghanistan’s Kandahar

  • Parliamentary elections will be delayed by a week in Afghanistan’s Kandahar Province following the assassination of the regional police commander (Reuters)

Taliban Target NATO Convoy

  • A suicide bomber targeted a NATO convoy, killing two civilians and injuring five Czech troops, in an attack in the district of Bagram in Afghanistan. The Taliban claimed responsibility (Associated Press)

Parliamentary Candidate Killed in Afghanistan’s Helmand Province

  • Four people, including Afghan parliamentary candidate Abdul Jabar Qahraman, were killed by a bomb in southern Helmand province. Qahraman is the tenth parliamentary candidate to be killed since August (Al Jazeera)

U.S., Taliban Envoys Meet in Qatar

  • A senior Taliban official said U.S. Special Envoy to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad asked the militant group to declare a six-month cease-fire that would start ahead of the parliamentary elections on October 20 (Reuters)
  • Over the weekend, the Taliban reportedly killed at least seventeen soldiers and abducted eleven others (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)

Attacks in Afghanistan Kill More Than One Hundred in Past Week

  • Taliban attacks across thirteen provinces killed nearly one hundred Afghan security forces personnel over the past week, as well as thirty-one civilians (New York Times)

Suicide Attack Targets Afghani Parliamentary Candidate in Helmand Province

  • A suicide bomber killed eight people, including a parliamentary candidate, in Lashkar Gah city yesterday. The attack comes less than two weeks before the parliamentary election on October 20 (BBC)

Taliban Vows to Obstruct Upcoming Afghan Elections

  • The Taliban condemned upcoming parliamentary elections as a scheme to deceive Afghans into serving the “malicious interests of foreigners” and called on its supporters to block the vote (Bloomberg)

Dozens Killed on Afghan War’s Seventeenth Anniversary

  • At least thirty-five Afghan security forces and nineteen civilians have been killed in the past day, according to Afghan officials. The fatalities were attributed to the Taliban, as well as to firing by government forces and a U.S. air strike (New York Times)

U.S. Soldier Killed in Afghanistan

  • A U.S. soldier was killed in combat in Afghanistan yesterday, the seventh U.S. service member to be killed in the country in 2018 (Reuters)

Suicide Bomber Targets Election Rally in Eastern Afghanistan

  • At least thirteen people were killed when a suicide bomber targeted an election rally in Nangarhar Province (Reuters)

Taliban, Afghan Officials Reportedly Meet in Saudi Arabia

  • The Taliban sent a delegation to meet with Afghan government envoys in Saudi Arabia this week to discuss security for upcoming parliamentary elections and a prisoner release, according to several officials for the militant group. The Afghan government did not comment on the meeting (Reuters)

Civilians Killed in Air Strike in Afghanistan’s Kapisa Province

  • Nine civilians from the same family were killed in an air strike in Kapisa Province on September 22, according to reports received by the UN mission in Afghanistan. It was not immediately clear if the strike was carried out by international or Afghan government forces (TOLO)

Afghan Intelligence Officers Arrest Twenty-Six Suspected Islamic State Militants

  • Twenty-six suspected Islamic State militants were arrested and accused of plotting attacks on members of the Shiite community. Separately, nine Afghan police force officers were killed when another officer shot them at a checkpoint (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)

Twelve Afghan Police Officers Killed in Attacks

  • Attacks by the Taliban on check posts in Farah Province and Badghis Province in western Afghanistan left at least twelve Afghan police officers dead (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)

Afghanistan Peace Talks Stall

  • Negotiations between the United States and the Taliban stalled over a U.S. request to maintain at least two bases in Afghanistan, according to Waheed Muzhda, a former Taliban official who maintains contact with the group’s leadership (VOA)

Suicide Bombing in Afghanistan Kills Dozens

  • A suicide bomber killed at least twenty-five people on the highway between Jalalabad and the main border crossing into Pakistan. The Taliban denied involvement in the attack, which followed a chain of smaller blasts targeting schools in Jalalabad and the surrounding area (Reuters)
  • Separately, the Taliban is reportedly preparing to send several delegates to meet with U.S. officials to discuss peace talks and a potential prisoner exchange (Reuters)

Dozens of Afghan Security Forces Killed in Attacks

  • More than fifty security forces personnel were reported killed in separate attacks in Kunduz, Jawzjan, Samangan, and Sar-e Pol Provinces since yesterday; the Taliban claimed two of the assaults (Associated Press)

Kabul Bombings Target Civilians, First Responders

  • Twenty-two civilians were killed yesterday by twin explosions at a wrestling center in an area of the capital largely populated by Shia Muslims. The second bomb went off an hour after the first, appearing to target first responders and journalists (Tolo)

Taliban Announces Death of Haqqani Network Leader

  • The Taliban in Afghanistan said that Jalaluddin Haqqani, the founder of a militant group closely linked to the Taliban and al-Qaeda, has died from illness. Haqqani had not been publicly heard from in years, and rumors of his death have circulated since 2015 (NPR)

Russia Calls Off Afghan Peace Talks

  • Russia agreed to postpone peace talks with the Taliban that were set to be held in Moscow next month after the Afghan government said it would not attend the conference. The government in Kabul said a peace process should be carried out under Afghan leadership (Tolo)

U.S. Airstrike Kills Islamic State Leader in Afghanistan

  • A U.S. airstrike reportedly killed a senior Islamic State commander in eastern Afghanistan (Associated Press)
  • Separately, a suicide bomber killed at least three people on Saturday near the office of Afghanistan’s election commission in the eastern city of Jalalabad (Reuters)

Kabul, Washington Decline Taliban Talks in Moscow

  • The Afghan foreign ministry said the government will not participate in talks with the Taliban and neighboring countries set for next month in Moscow, stating that the peace process should be carried out under Afghan leadership. An unnamed State Department spokesperson said the United States will not attend the talks because they are “unlikely to yield any progress” (Tolo)

Rockets Hit Afghan Capital During Presidential Speech

  • At least a dozen rockets struck Kabul as President Ashraf Ghani was giving a speech today to mark the start of the Eid al-Adha holiday, appearing to signal that Taliban militants rejected a government offer for a three-month cease-fire (Washington Post)

Taliban Rejects Afghan Government’s Offer for Ceasefire

  • The Taliban rejected Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s offer for a ceasefire and pledged to continue attacks. Separately, government security forces freed 149 people whom the Taliban had taken hostage in the northern province of Kunduz. The militants continue to hold twenty-one others (RFE/RL)

Kabul Attack on Students Kills Dozens

  • A suicide bombing at an education center in the Afghan capital killed at least thirty-four people, many of whom were teenage students believed to be studying English. The Taliban denied it was behind the attack (CNN)