Hundreds of protestors rallied outside the Pakistani Embassy in Kabul demanding more protection from the government after Afghan security officials announced they had presented Pakistan with “undeniable evidence” that insurgents involved in attacks that killed over one hundred people last week were trained in Pakistan (Washington Post)
Over Eighty Taliban Killed in Southern Afghanistan
Afghan officials said that eighty-three Taliban fighters were killed in an operation in Kandahar province, reportedly as the militants gathered ahead of a planned attack on Afghan military checkpoints (RFE/RL)
U.S. Censors Some Afghan War Intelligence
In a first, the U.S. Defense Department has withheld some sensitive information reported by the U.S. special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction. Information redacted from a recent report includes data on how much of the country is controlled by militants (Reuters)
Kabul Military Academy Attacked
Eleven Afghan servicemen were killed and sixteen others wounded in an Islamic State-claimed attack on a military academy in Kabul (Reuters)
Car Bombing in Afghanistan Kills More Than One Hundred
At least 103 were killed and over 235 were injured in a suicide bombing attack in Kabul targeting a police checkpoint. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack (CNN)
U.S. Adds Taliban, Haqqani Suspects to Terrorism Blacklist
The U.S. Treasury has imposed new sanctions on six men linked to the Afghan Taliban and the Haqqani network who are accused of funding and providing weapons to militants involved in attacks on U.S. forces (Associated Press)
Four Americans Killed in Kabul Hotel Attack
The U.S. State Department confirmed that four American citizens were among those killed in an attack on Kabul’s Intercontinental Hotel last weekend, and two other Americans were wounded (Voice of America)
Yesterday, a suspected drone strike in Pakistan’s tribal areas reportedly killed a Haqqani network commander; Pakistan accused the United States of hitting a camp for Afghan refugees, a charge a U.S. embassy spokesperson denied (Dawn)
Four Dead in Attack on Aid Agency in Afghanistan
At least four people died and more than twenty others were injured in an attack on offices of the aid organization Save the Children in Jalalabad today. The Islamic State in Afghanistan claimed the attack (CBS/Associated Press)
Watchdog’s Review of Sexual Abuse by Afghan Troops Released
The U.S. inspector general for Afghanistan suggested that U.S. lawmakers withhold funds from Afghan military units whose members are found to have sexually abused children, according to a previously classified review of rights violations in the country. The Pentagon rebuffed the report last year, calling it “speculative” (Washington Post)
Kabul Blames Haqqani Network for Hotel Attack
An Afghan government spokesman blamed the Pakistan-based Haqqani network for an attack on a Kabul hotel late Saturday that was claimed by the Taliban (Financial Times)
At least thirty people, including nationals of Ukraine and Kazakhstan, are believed to have died in the attack (RFE/RL)
Taliban Closer to Peace Talks With Kabul, U.S. Says
U.S. envoy to the United Nations Nikki Haley said the new U.S. strategy in Afghanistan, which has given the military greater ability to attack militants, has pushed the Taliban closer to negotiations with the central government. The comments follow reports that the militant group held discussions in Islamabad this week on resuming peace negotiations (RFE/RL)
Dozens Dead in Kabul Attack on Shia Muslims
Multiple explosions at a cultural center used by Shia Muslims in the Afghan capital killed an estimated forty people and injured more than eighty others in an attack claimed by the Islamic State (Washington Post)
Islamic State Claims Kabul Attack
The Islamic State said it was behind a suicide bombing in Kabul, Afghanistan, that targeted the Afghan intelligence agency and killed six civilians, according to the Interior Ministry (Guardian)
Pence Sees “Real Progress” on Afghanistan Trip
U.S. Vice President Mike Pence made a surprise visit to U.S. troops in Afghanistan and met with President Ashraf Ghani and Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah (RFE/RL)
Afghan Drug Facilities Destroyed in Strikes, U.S. Says
The U.S. Air Force said $80 million in narcotics revenue has been cut off as a result of three weeks of U.S. air strikes targeting drug facilities operated by Afghan militants. The air force praised a new order by the Trump administration authorizing U.S. air power to target Taliban facilities (Voice of America)
Dozens of Militants Killed in U.S.-Afghan Raids
Afghanistan’s intelligence agency said eighty militants and a senior member of al-Qaeda were killed in joint U.S.-Afghan raids in the past week near the border with Pakistan. Twenty-seven suspected members were arrested (Voice of America)
President Ashraf Ghani has endorsed a new U.S. military campaign to carry out air strikes against alleged narcotics facilities used by the Taliban, part of a new strategy to cut off funding to the group. Local authorities said yesterday that ten such strikes had been carried out in the past week in Helmand Province (Washington Post)
ICC Orders Probe of Afghan War
The chief prosecutor of the Hague-based International Criminal Court is seeking to investigate war crimes in Afghanistan, including ones allegedly committed by the United States and Afghan security forces. The move would mark the first time the court could target the United States in an investigation (Radio Free Europe)
U.S. and Afghan Strikes Hit Taliban Opium Factories
U.S. and Afghan forces launched joint strikes against Taliban opium factories in an effort to curb the group’s finances (Reuters)
Three Thousand More U.S. Troops Deployed to Afghanistan
A deployment of additional U.S. troops authorized by U.S. President Donald J. Trump brings the number of U.S. servicemen in Afghanistan to about fourteen thousand. General John Nicholson has requested sixteen thousand troops overall; NATO allies have pledged new troop deployments to make up the gap (Radio Free Europe)
Opium Production Spikes in Afghanistan
Opium production in Afghanistan spiked 87 percent in 2017 compared to the previous year, according to the country’s counternarcotics ministry and the United Nations, which called the nine thousand tons produced a record (Radio Free Europe)
Dozens of Afghan Security Forces Dead in Taliban Attacks
An estimated seventy police officers and five Afghan soldiers have been killed in a series of militant attacks on more than a dozen police posts in Afghanistan’s south and west over the last two days. A police spokesman said Taliban assailants used night-vision goggles, lasers, and a stolen police truck to carry out the attacks (New York Times)
NATO to Increase Afghan Deployment
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization will announce this week an additional three thousand troops for its training mission in Afghanistan, with half of the deployment coming from the United States. The additional troops bring the total for the NATO mission there to sixteen thousand (Reuters)
Islamic State Claims Kabul TV Station Attack
The Islamic State claimed an attack in which gunmen stormed the private TV station Shamshad, killing two people and wounding at least twenty others. The station resumed programming shortly after the assault, in which an employee said the attackers wore police uniforms (RFE/RL)
United States, Afghanistan Probe Civilian Deaths
The U.S. military and Afghan Defense Ministry have announced investigations into reports of up to twenty-two civilian deaths during a joint U.S.-Afghan operation last week in Kunduz Province (RFE/RL)
The International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor said last week that she will seek a war crimes investigation into the conflict in Afghanistan (Al Jazeera)