Three Afghan officials including Ali Shams Dost, a district governor in eastern Ghazni Province, and the district chief of National Directorate for Security, were killed along with twelve other security personnel in an attack by Taliban militants on a government compound (Associated Press)
In retaliation, the government bombed Taliban positions, killing thirty insurgents, a government spokesman said (New York Times)
U.S. Air strike in Afghanistan Kills Islamic State Commander
A U.S. air strike in Afghanistan’s northern province of Faryab killed senior Islamic State commander Qari Hikmatullah, a former leader of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan who had also previously fought with the Taliban, NATO said (Associated Press)
Afghanistan Accuses Pakistan of Air Strikes Amid Official Visit
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi is in Afghanistan for official talks with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani to discuss improving mutual ties and seeking a negotiated peace with the Taliban (Voice of America)
The visit comes a day after Afghanistan’s Foreign Ministry said that Pakistani aircraft dropped four bombs on the border province Kunar; Pakistan denied the accusation (RFE/RL)
UN to Probe Afghan Air Strike on Kunduz School
UN investigators are probing an Afghan Air Force strike on a religious school yesterday that Afghan officials said killed at least fifty civilians, including many children. The Afghan government said fifteen Taliban militants were killed (CBS/Agence France-Presse)
Women on Strike for a Cease-Fire in Afghanistan
Hundreds of women activists in Helmand Province’s Lashkar Gah pitched tents and vowed to carry out a hunger strike as part of a larger movement protesting against Taliban attacks and calling for a cease-fire in the area (RFE/RL)
Separately, a suicide attack in eastern Kunar Province, near the border with Pakistan, killed a senior provincial council member and at least one other person, and wounded several others (Voice of America)
Uzbekistan Offers to Host Afghan Peace Talks
At an international conference on Afghan security in Tashkent, Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev said his country is “ready to create all necessary conditions” for peace talks between the Kabul government and Taliban militants (Reuters)
Afghan Peace Conference Opens in Tashkent
Delegates from more than twenty countries, including the United States, Iran, China, Russia, Pakistan, and Central Asian neighbors, as well as the European Union, will take part in a two-day conference to discuss regional and international issues. The conference comes after Afghan President Ashraf Ghani last month proposed talks with the Taliban without preconditions (RFE/RL)
U.S. Accuses Russia of Arming Taliban
General John Nicholson, the head of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, said the Taliban have recently been receiving Russian arms from across the Tajik border, and pointed to Russia’s narrative that “grossly exaggerates” the number of fighters from the Islamic State in Afghanistan to justify its support for the Taliban (BBC)
At Least Thirty Killed in Suicide Attack in Kabul
More than thirty people were killed and dozens were wounded in a suicide attack at a Shiite shrine near Kabul University yesterday. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack that targeted the Shiite minority celebrating the new year holiday Nawroz (Associated Press)
U.S. Looks to Up Pressure on Taliban
The top U.S. military commander for Afghanistan said social, diplomatic, military, and religious pressure will be applied to push the Taliban to negotiate with the Kabul government (Voice of America)
Indonesia will host a conference with Afghan clerics later this month to discuss an Afghan peace process (Tolo)
Bomb Kills Three in Eastern Afghanistan
A bomb planted on a motorbike killed three and wounded eight at a rally in Jalalabad held by former insurgent commander Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, who in recent years was allied with the Taliban but made peace with the government last year (RFE/RL)
Taliban Briefly Seize Control of Western Afghan District
Last night, Taliban militants partially took control of a district headquarter in Farah province after hours of fighting against the government forces and killing eight policemen. Afghan forces, backed by airstrikes, recaptured the district’s center this morning, reportedly killing over fifty Taliban militants (Reuters)
At Least Thirty Dead in Attacks Across Afghanistan
An Islamic State-claimed suicide bombing in Kabul targeting the Shiite community killed ten people; other attacks claimed by the Taliban targeted the local police in northern Takhar province, killing nearly twenty, and six more security forces were killed across the country. The attacks come as President Ashraf Ghani has offered peace talks with the Taliban rebels, potentially signaling their rejection of the government’s efforts (Washington Post)
Suicide Bombing Strikes Kabul
A suicide bombing reportedly targeting a “convoy of foreigners” in the eastern part of Kabul today killed at least one, a young girl, and wounded twenty-two others (Associated Press)
Taliban Cold on Kabul Political Deal
The militant group has not replied to President Ashraf Ghani’s offer to recognize them as a political party as part of a peace deal, but rejected a call for the group to recognize the Kabul government as legitimate, calling it the “formula adopted by America to win the war” (Reuters)
Afghan Leader Offers Taliban Political Deal
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani called for the Taliban to be recognized as a political group and for its leadership to accept a “dignified peace” as representatives from more than twenty countries gathered in Kabul for a conference on ending the sixteen-year war (RFE/RL)
Ghani also offered to the militant group a cease-fire and prisoner release with no preconditions, but said the Taliban must recognize the government as legitimate (Guardian)
Taliban Calls for Direct Dialogue With U.S.
In a statement ahead of a regional meeting in Kabul on ending the Afghan war, the Taliban called for a “peaceful channel” to discuss the demands of Afghans with the United States (Reuters)
More Than Twenty Afghan Security Forces Killed
A series of Taliban attacks across Afghanistan today killed at least twenty Afghan soldier; the attacks included suicide bombings in Helmand province and in Kabul, and Taliban fighters in Farah province overran an Afghan Army checkpoint (New York Times)
Afghan Police and Intelligence Targeted by Taliban Attacks
Eight policemen were killed in a Taliban attack in the central province of Ghazni and four intelligence officials died in an ambush in the northern province of Parwan (Associated Press)
More Than Ten Thousand Afghan Civilians Killed in 2017
The UN released yesterday its annual report on the impact of the war in Afghanistan on civilians, and found that more than ten thousand civilians were killed in 2017 (UNAMA)
Separately, the Hague-based International Criminal Court has received 1.17 million victim statements from Afghans since it announced that it would probe war crimes in the country three months ago (Associated Press)
Afghan Taliban Publishes Open Letter to Americans
The Afghan Taliban issued a letter addressed to the American people and U.S. Congress calling for dialogue to end the seventeen-year war in Afghanistan. The group said the United States has lost thousands of its citizens and spent billions of dollars installing a politically fractious and corrupt ruling class in the country (Voice of America)
Afghanistan Hosts Regional Military Chiefs
Kabul hosted army chiefs from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Pakistan yesterday, along with U.S. and NATO commanders for Afghanistan, to discuss terrorism and narcotics trafficking. A spokesman for Pakistan’s army chief said his country has “eliminated all terrorist sanctuaries from its soil” (Voice of America)
Sixteen Afghan Officers Killed in Insider Attack
Officials said sixteen members of the national intelligence agency have been killed after four of their colleagues opened fire on them before fleeing to join the Taliban insurgency during an attack by Taliban militants on the facility (Voice of America)
Eleven Killed in U.S. Drone Attacks in Pakistan, Afghanistan
Separate U.S. drone strikes struck a military compound in a Pakistani border village, reportedly targeting a Haqqani network local commander and killing seven, as well as a vehicle in Afghanistan’s Paktia province, killing four militants (Washington Post)
U.S. Shifts Military Resources to Afghanistan
U.S. Central Command has begun transferring combat and surveillance aircraft from Iraq and Syria to Afghanistan as the fight against the Islamic State in the Middle East winds down (RFE/RL)