Two weeks after the United States signed a landmark agreement with Afghanistan’s hard-line Taliban movement, the peace process stipulated by the agreement is already under severe strain because of disagreements over multiple issues mentioned in the agreement and outside its scope.
Serbia has declared a state of emergency to contain the coronavirus outbreak, shutting down schools and universities and deploying the military to guard hospitals.
Afghan authorities say they have delayed the release of 1,500 Taliban prisoners, throwing a precarious peace process into deeper crisis.
The Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MEK) is an exiled Iranian opposition group with a sprawling complex in the hills of Albania.
Human rights and media freedom watchdogs are urging Pakistan to release from pretrial detention the owner and editor in chief of the country’s biggest independent media group.
The United States is not ready to abandon its agreement with the Taliban in Afghanistan, but the general in charge of U.S. forces in the region says there are signs the deal ultimately may be doomed.
U.S. envoy to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad has called on Afghan leaders to end their standoff over a disputed presidential election and seize a “historic opportunity” for peace.
Afghanistan has so far reported seven confirmed cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. But the war-torn country is bracing for more as thousands of Afghans return home from Iran each day.
Marvin Weinbaum counts disagreements between Afghan elites, the Taliban’s unwillingness to follow through on vague counterterrorism and power-sharing promises, and the possibility of Washington walking away from its longest war as several of the major obstacles to lasting peace in Afghanistan.
The Afghan government has offered to release 1,500 Taliban prisoners, saying it is "impossible" to release more, as demanded by the Taliban to start peace talks envisaged under a deal with the United States.
The United States has warned the Taliban on March 10 that the current level of violence by the militants “is unacceptable” to advancing the peace process as the UN Security Council supported a U.S.-led effort to end Afghanistan’s nearly two-decade old war.
Iran says the novel coronavirus has killed 54 more people in the country, raising the death toll to 291.
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