Factions within the Afghan government and Washington differ over whether they are willing to accept a reduction in violence or expect a complete cease-fire in the wake of an agreement between the United States and the Taliban.
Ismail Qaani, the new commander of the Quds Force of Iran's powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), has ties with Afghanistan going back to the 1980s.
Two U.S. soldiers were killed and two wounded when the army vehicle they were traveling in struck a roadside bomb in Afghanistan, the NATO press office said in a statement.
A quarter-century ago, Afghanistan’s hard-line Sunni Taliban movement emerged as a mortal enemy of the Shi’ite clerical regime in neighboring Iran. But amid today’s high U.S.-Iran tensions, Tehran’s influence over the Taliban could sabotage its peace negotiations with Washington.
As Iranian officials warn of “severe revenge” for the recent U.S. killing of their country’s most powerful military commander, Afghan officials are seeking reciprocal assurances from Tehran that their country will not be harmed in a confrontation with Washington.
Afghanistan’s four-decade-long conflict has been defined by the intervention of great powers and the meddling of neighbors who have ostensibly pursued their interests by arming or fighting various Afghan factions or facilitating their infighting.
Forty years ago, Soviet forces invaded Afghanistan and toppled an allied government. The bloody invasion would set Afghanistan on a path for decades of conflict.
The United States is allowing Pakistan to rejoin a military training program following a two-year suspension -- representing one element of U.S. military assistance frozen by President Donald Trump after accusing Islamabad of not doing enough to stop terrorism.
A top U.S. senator said that President Donald Trump is expected to announce a U.S. troop drawdown from Afghanistan this week.
The prospects of such a peace agreement puts the quarter-century-old Taliban movement at a crossroads.
Dozens of people attended the funeral of a local leader of the Pakistan Muslim League-N party who was shot dead in the northwestern Swat Valley.
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