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Violent Extremism in South Asia

Report: 2,531 Afghan Forces Killed in Early 2017

  • Some 2,531 Afghan security forces were killed and an additional 4,238 injured in the first four months of 2017, according to the U.S. Special Inspector General for Afghanistan (Reuters)

Taliban Attack on Afghan Base Kills Dozens

  • At least twenty-six Afghan soldiers were killed and some eighty Taliban militants killed or wounded in an attack on a military base in Kandahar, according to the Afghan defense minister (Radio Free Europe)

Thirty Dead in Kabul Car Bombing

  • A car bomb in an area of Kabul that is home to many Shia Hazara minorities exploded Monday, killing at least thirty people. A U.S. air raid in Helmand Province killed sixteen Afghan police officers in a case of “friendly fire” (BBC)

Taliban Kills Five Policemen

  • A Taliban offensive in northern Afghanistan killed five policemen and wounded six others (AP)

Record Number of Afghan Civilians Killed in 2017

  • More than 1,600 civilians have been killed and some 3,500 injured in Afghanistan so far this year, according to the United Nations. The UN said 40 percent of casualties were caused by anti-government forces and reported a 23 percent rise in the number of women killed compared to 2016 (Al Jazeera)

U.S. Soldier Killed, Two Wounded in Southern Afghanistan

  • One U.S. soldier was killed and two others were wounded in an attack in Helmand province. The troops were taking part in counterterrorism operations (NPR)

U.S. Senators Demand New Approach in Afghanistan

  • A bipartisan delegation of senators visiting Afghanistan on July 4 called for a new strategy to defeat the Taliban (Radio Free Europe)

Fifteen NATO Members Pledge to Increase Forces in Afghanistan

  • Defense ministers from NATO’s twenty-nine member states met in Brussels to discuss defense spending. Fifteen members agreed to increase their contributions to the NATO mission in Afghanistan (Radio Free Europe)

Taliban Kills Ten Afghan Police

  • The Taliban reportedly killed ten Afghan police in the western Herat province. The following day, President Ashraf Ghani called for the Taliban to return to peace talks (DefenseOne)

Taliban Attacks Afghan Police Headquarters

  • The Taliban launched an attack against a police base in eastern Afghanistan, killing five officers, and wounding another nine. The Taliban used a car bomb to provide an opening in the gate which the attackers then exploited to gain access to the base (Al Jazeera)

Eight U.S., Afghan Soldiers Injured in Shooting

  • Seven U.S. servicemen and an Afghan soldierwere wounded when a member of an elite Afghan commando unit opened fire at a base in the city of Mazar-e-Sharif. The assailant was killed in the ensuing shootout (Radio Free Europe)

Trump Authorizes Pentagon to Set Afghanistan Troop Levels

  • Trump will allow the Pentagon to formulate policy and determine troop levels in order to address the stalemate in Afghanistan. Defense Secretary James Mattis favors increasing the number of American troops in Afghanistan, and this decision clears the way for a deployment of more troops (New York Times)

Three U.S. Special Forces Soldiers Killed in Nangarhar

  • Three U.S. Special Forces soldiers were killed by an Afghan colleague who open fired on the troops during a joint operation. A spokesman for the Taliban claimed the attack (BBC)

Thousands March in Aftermath of Kabul Attack

  • Thousands demonstrated in Kabul clashing with police and calling for President Ashraf Ghani’s execution, over a lack of security after May 31 explosion killed ninety people (Washington Post)
  • Ghani ordered eleven members of the Haqqani network, the militant group that Afghan authorities blame for the attack, to be executed (Wall Street Journal)

Dozens Dead in Bombing of Kabul’s Diplomatic Center

  • A massive blast in Kabul killed at least eighty people and wounded more than 350 in Wazir Akbar Khan district, the city’s diplomatic quarter. An entire block was razed in the blast, which was triggered by a large quantity of explosives hidden in a tanker truck (Washington Post)

Ten Afghan Soldiers Die in Kandahar Attack

  • Militants attacked a base in Kandahar Province, killing at least ten Afghan soldiers and wounding nine others. The Afghan Defense Ministry said twelve of the assailants were killed (Reuters)

Gunmen Attack NGO Guesthouse in Kabul

  • An Afghan guard and a German woman were killed after unidentified gunmen attacked a Kabul guesthouse used by Operation Mercy, a Swedish charity (Voice of America)

Suicide Bombers Attack Afghan Television Station

  • Four assailants attacked the office of Radio Television Afghanistan in Jalalabad, killing at least six people and injuring up to sixteen. The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the attack (Al Jazeera)

Child Fatalities in Afghanistan Reach Record High

  • The United Nations reported 280 conflict-related child deaths in the first four months of 2017, an increase of 21 percent compared to the same period in 2016 and the highest since it began record-keeping in 2009 (Voice of America)

Trump Officials Seek to Expand U.S. Military Role in Afghanistan

  • Senior officials in the Donald Trump administration have proposed giving the Pentagon authority to determine the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan and allowing the military broader authority to carry out airstrikes there (WaPo)

Officials Say ISIS Head in Afghanistan Killed

  • U.S. and Afghan officials announced that the head of the self-proclaimed Islamic State’s branch in Afghanistan as well as up to thirty-five other suspected militants were killed in a recent raid (NYT)

Afghan Warlord Returns to Kabul Twenty Years After Forceful Removal

  • Afghan warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar returned to Kabul more than twenty years after being forced out by the Taliban. Hekmatyar signed a peace deal with the government last year in which he disavowed violence and promised to uphold the constitution (BBC)

Blast Targeting U.S. Forces Kills Afghan Civilians

  • A suicide attack on a U.S. military convoy in Kabul killed at least eight Afghan civilians and wounded two dozen others, including three servicemembers. The self-proclaimed Islamic State said it carried out the attack (New York Times)

U.S. Report Says Afghan Deaths Climb to New High

  • A U.S. government watchdog warned in a new report that death rates among Afghan security forces are “shockingly high” and civilian deaths reached a record 11,418 in 2016, the highest number since the United Nations began monitoring in 2009. In the first six weeks of 2017, 807 Afghan security personnel were killed. The report states that 61 percent of the $71 billion the United States has spent on Afghan reconstruction since 2002 has gone to training and equipping security forces (Bloomberg)

Two U.S. Servicemen Killed in Afghanistan

  • The Pentagon said that two U.S. servicemen were killed and a third wounded in Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province during a raid on an affiliate of the self-proclaimed Islamic State (BBC)