The setbacks come at a harrowing moment for Afghanistan, just as American and international troops are set to leave the country in coming weeks. The Taliban entered two provincial capitals in northern Afghanistan Sunday, local officials said, the culmination of an insurgent offensive that has overrun dozens of rural districts …

The Afghanistan government’s top peace negotiator has voiced concern that the withdrawal of NATO forces from Afghanistan could cause a “security vacuum, an increased level of fighting and perhaps a slower pace of negotiations,” saying the solution “has to be through negotiations, not through battle.” “The Taliban has unfortunately increased …

Every few hours this weekend, the Taliban released videos of triumphant insurgents inspecting yet another Afghan district headquarters that had been lost in battle by government forces or surrendered without a fight. Some of these districts, a unit equivalent to American counties, are too remote or sparsely populated to warrant …