Afghanistan

President Donald Trump is expected to cut a significant number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan and a smaller number in Iraq by the final days of his presidency, U.S. officials said Monday. The plan would run counter to military commanders’ advice over the past year, while still falling short of …

A surge of targeted killings and assassinations has swept Afghanistan, where violence has soared despite peace efforts aimed at ending the war. Many of those being targeted are civilians — journalists, rights activists, cultural figures, moderate religious leaders, and women in public roles.

The Taliban say they expect President-elect Joe Biden to stick to a peace agreement the insurgent group sealed with the United States earlier this year to end the war in Afghanistan, America’s longest.

American drones and U.S. allies killed several Qaeda leaders and operatives in the past week. But the organization has “ingrained itself in local communities and conflicts,” according to the U.N.

egotiations between the Taliban and the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan have opened in Doha, Qatar, but violence continues and even appears to be escalating. Some of the worst attacks, such as the Oct. 24 strike on an educational center in Kabul that killed at least 30 students, have been claimed …

Based on the current conditions in Afghanistan, the Defense Department expects there will be fewer than 5,000 U.S. military service members in that country by the end of November, said David F. Helvey, who is currently performing the duties of assistant secretary of defense for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs.

Afghanistan’s warring sides started negotiations for the first time, bringing together the Taliban and delegates appointed by the Afghan government Saturday for historic meetings aimed at ending decades of war.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was in Qatar Saturday for the opening of peace talks there between the Taliban and the Afghan government. Hopefully, the Taliban have figured out by now that these talks are not simply a face-saving exercise for the U.S. to exit South Asia. If they haven’t, …

Toward the end of August, a delegation from the Afghan Taliban led by the group’s deputy, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, travelled to Islamabad. There, they met with Pakistan’s foreign minister and head of its Inter-Services Intelligence, the military’s intelligence wing. The first gathering, held at Pakistan’s Foreign Office, was meant …

In the 19 years that have passed since I watched the twin towers of the World Trade Center collapse, not a single moment of that day has faded from memory.