Taliban Halts Protection for Red Cross Staff in Afghanistan
The Taliban said it will no longer grant safe passage to Red Cross employees in Afghanistan and accused the organization of failing to support Taliban inmates in Kabul’s Pul-e-Charkhi prison (BBC)
Separately, an explosion in western Kabul killed at least twenty-five people and wounded thirty-five others (Al Jazeera)
Fighting in Afghanistan’s Ghazni Eases as Taliban Militants Pull Back
Taliban militants have taken control of rural areas in the province surrounding the eastern city of Ghazni, according to local reports (New York Times)
Residents said the militants pulled back from several locations within the city after setting government buildings on fire. An estimated seventy security forces, nearly two hundred suspected insurgents, and twenty civilians have died in the fighting (Tolo)
Scores of Afghan Forces Killed in Taliban Offensive
More than two hundred soldiers and officers died in a weekend of fighting against Taliban militants on four fronts. The southeastern city Ghazni, which appears to be largely under militant control, suffered the highest death toll (New York Times)
Afghan, U.S. Forces Repel Taliban in Strategic City
The U.S. military said that all government facilities in the provincial capital of Ghazni are under the control of Afghan national forces after an offensive by Taliban militants (Tolo)
Twelve Killed in Taliban Attacks Across Afghanistan
Taliban attacks across Afghanistan in western Farah Province and eastern Logar Province killed at least twelve people today, including four civilian women (Associated Press)
NATO Soldiers Killed in Afghan Suicide Attack
Three NATO soldiers from the Czech Republic were killed and several Afghan and American service members were injured in a suicide attack in Parwan Province, north of Kabul. The Taliban claimed it carried out a “tactical blast” against a U.S. military convoy in Parwan’s capital (Voice of America)
Afghan Commandos Free Dozens of Taliban Prisoners
Afghan special forces freed at least sixty-one prisoners, including soldiers and police officers, from a Taliban facility in Helmand Province yesterday. A military spokesman said at least two militants were killed in the operation (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)
Hundreds of Islamic State Fighters Surrender to Afghan Government
More than two hundred Islamic State fighters and two senior commanders in northern Afghanistan reportedly surrendered to Afghan government forces yesterday in Jowzjan Province. The Islamic State fighters allegedly fled a days-long Taliban assault on territory they controlled to avoid capture by the insurgent group (New York Times)
Attack on Government Refugee Office in Afghanistan Kills Fifteen People
An attack on the Department of Refugee Affairs in the eastern city of Jalalabad yesterday killed fifteen people. A government spokesman said the Islamic State was likely responsible for the attack (New York Times)
Islamic State Claims Responsibility for Attack on Afghan Midwife Center
The Islamic State claimed responsibility for an attack carried out by two gunmen on a midwife training center in Jalalabad that killed three staff on Saturday (Reuters)
Separately, the Trump administration is calling for U.S.-backed Afghan troops to withdraw from isolated outposts in sparsely populated parts of the country (New York Times)
U.S. Delegation Met With Taliban Officials
Ambassador Alice Wells, the top U.S. diplomat for South Asia, met with Taliban leaders earlier this week in Qatar to set the stage for fresh peace talks (Wall Street Journal)
Twenty Dead in Attack Targeting Afghan Vice President
A suicide bomber killed twenty people, including nine members of First Vice President General Abdul Rashid Dostum’s security detail, in an attack at Kabul’s international airport yesterday. The Islamic State said it was behind the attack, which wounded almost one hundred other people (New York Times)
Civilians Killed in Kunduz Air Strikes
At least fourteen people, including women and children, were reportedly killed during joint U.S.-Afghan air strikes in northern Kunduz Province (Washington Post)
Suicide Bombing in Northern Afghanistan Kills Twenty People
A suicide bomber killed twenty people during a meeting between village elders and Taliban officials in northern Afghanistan (RFE/RL)
U.S. Denies Reports About Taliban Talks
The NATO mission to Afghanistan refuted media reports that U.S. Commander General John Nicholson said the United States is ready for direct dialogue with Taliban militants, writing in a statement that the United States is “not a substitute for the Afghan people or the Afghan government” (Tolo)
Record Number of Afghan Civilians Killed, Reports UN
Nearly 1,700 civilians were killed during the first half of 2018, the highest death toll in ten years of record-keeping, according to a new UN report. More than half of the deaths were attributed to attacks by the Islamic State (Tolo)
Separately, Afghan police shot a suspected suicide bomber as he approached a demonstration in Kabul’s main business area (Reuters)
IOM Highlights Surge in Afghan Returnees
Some 13,700 Afghans returned voluntarily or were deported from Iran in the first week of July, bringing the total number of returnees from the country so far this year to more than 370,500, according to the International Organization for Migration, which cited “deteriorating protection space” in Iran and Pakistan as push factors (IOM)
Religious Scholars Meet in Saudi Arabia to Discuss Afghan Peace
Over two hundred religious scholars from fifty-seven countries convened in Saudi Arabia to discuss how to end the conflict in Afghanistan (Tolo)
U.S. Soldier Killed in Afghanistan Insider Attack
A U.S. service member was killed and two others wounded over the weekend in a so-called insider attack at a small outpost in Uruzgan Province (New York Times)
Separately, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made a surprise visit to Kabul today, where he promised support for Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’s push to initiate peace negotiations with the Taliban (Reuters)
Bombing in Eastern Afghanistan Targets Sikhs
Nineteen people, including at least ten Sikhs, were killed in an attack yesterday in the eastern city of Jalalabad that targeted a caravan on its way to meet President Ashraf Ghani, who was there to inaugurate a new hospital. No group has claimed the attack (Al Jazeera)
New U.S. Commander Headed to Afghanistan
The U.S. Senate confirmed the head of the Joint Special Operations Command, Lieutenant General Austin Scott Miller, to oversee U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan (Hill)
Miller, succeeding General John Nicholson, will be the seventeenth commander in the seventeen-year war (Tolo)
Dozens Killed in Militant Attacks Across Afghanistan
Taliban attacks on several checkpoints in northern Takhar Province killed at least fourteen police officers, while at least eleven people were killed in two attacks in eastern Logar Province and another five members of the Afghan security forces were killed in attacks in Nangarhar Province (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)
Afghan President Reiterates Call for Peace Talks with Taliban
President Ashraf Ghani, in an op-ed published by the New York Times, called for the Taliban to extend their cease-fire and to “agree on a venue for negotiations and engage in a formal negotiations process in good faith” (New York Times)
Official Says U.S. Ready to Facilitate Taliban Talks
A top State Department official told the House Foreign Affairs Committee that the United States is “prepared to support, facilitate, and participate in direct negotiations between the Afghan government and the Taliban” (Tolo)
Separately, a three-week long joint operation between U.S. and Afghan Special Operations forces in eastern Nangarhar province reportedly killed more than one hundred and sixty Islamic State fighters (Wall Street Journal)
Afghan Soldiers Killed in Taliban Attack
At least eleven soldiers were reported killed in Badghis Province in the first major Taliban attack since the end of a cease-fire marking the Eid al-Fitr holiday (RFE/RL)