HERAT, Afghanistan – Taliban militants publicly executed a man and girl on Monday for eloping when she was already engaged to marry someone else, an official said, in a sign of the grip the Islamists have over parts of Afghanistan. Hashim Noorzai, head of Khash Rud district in southwestern Nimruz …

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan  – Taliban gunmen on motorbikes gunned down a woman provincial legislator in Afghanistan Sunday as authorities said they had killed 40 more Taliban in their battle to defeat the extremists. Legislator Sitara Achikzai, a high school teacher and women’s rights activist in her 50s, was shot dead outside …

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan – A female provincial official known for fighting for women’s rights was gunned down in southern Afghanistan on Sunday, following a day of fighting in the region that left 22 militants dead, officials said. A Taliban spokesman, Qari Yousef Ahmedi, claimed responsibility for the attack.