Afghanistan

KABUL (Reuters) - At least seven people were killed and 10 others, including four foreign nationals, were wounded in Kabul on Wednesday, when a van packed with explosive targeted a vehicle belonging to a foreign security company, Afghan security officials said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility in the rush-hour attack, that comes a day after the Afghan government agreed on a prisoner exchange with the Taliban insurgents in the hopes of reviving peace talks.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Yousuf fled with his family from his home in eastern Afghanistan eight years ago to escape the war, but he couldn’t escape tragedy. In the capital, Kabul, five of his children died, not from violence or bombings, but from air pollution, worsened by bitter cold and poverty.

12 November 2019; AFP: Afghan President Ashraf Ghani announced Tuesday that three high-ranking Taliban prisoners would be released, in an apparent exchange for two Western hostages who were kidnapped by the insurgents in 2016.

The three Taliban prisoners include Anas Haqqani, who was seized in 2014 and whose older brother is the deputy Taliban leader and head of the Haqqani network, a notorious Taliban affiliate.

KUNDUZ, Afghanistan, Nov. 11 (Xinhua) -- Five militants have been killed and three others wounded in a premature explosion in Afghanistan's northern Kunduz province, the military said on Monday.

"The explosive went off at about 8 p.m. local time Sunday when militants were busy in planting an improvised explosive device (IED) along a road in Haji Mehrab locality of Ali Abad district in the south of Kunduz," Afghan army 217 Pamir Corps said in a statement.

Kabul; 4 Nov 19; GANASHAKTI: Pakistan's embassy in Kabul has said it was indefinitely closing its consular office in the Afghan capital due to security reasons, amid mounting tensions between the neighbouring countries.

Closure of the visa section will come as a huge blow for many Afghans, hundreds of whom apply daily for permits to travel to Pakistan where they seek medical treatment, goods and university educations.

KABUL, Nov. 3 (Xinhua) -- The Afghan authorities burned about 28 tons of seized narcotic drugs in two provinces on Sunday, the latest in the fight against illicit drug trafficking.

In northern Baghlan province, some 15 tons of narcotics were put on fire and destroyed by provincial police on the outskirts of provincial capital Pul-e-Khumri city, provincial police chief Gen. Wais Ahmad Samimi told reporters at the site.

KABUL (Reuters) - Nine Afghan children were killed on Saturday when a mine exploded as they walked to school, police said, the latest victims in a growing toll of civilian casualties in the war.

The blast happened in the northeastern province of Takhar. Saturday is a school day in Afghanistan.

“This area is under Taliban control and since security forces launched attacks to clear it, the Taliban have planted anti-personnel mines,” Khalil Asir, a spokesman for the provincial police, told Reuters.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — An Afghan politician confirms that U.S. peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad is in Afghanistan’s capital for his first visit since talks between the U.S. and Taliban collapsed last month.

Sayed Hamid Gailani, leader of the National Islamic Front of Afghanistan, posted on his Twitter account late Saturday that he met with Khalilzad and his team in Kabul to discuss the country’s recent presidential elections and peace efforts.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The Taliban stormed a checkpoint in northern Afghanistan, killing at least 15 policemen in the latest attack by insurgents, an Afghan provincial official said Tuesday.

The multi-pronged attack on the checkpoint in the Ali Abad district of northern Kunduz province began late on Monday night and set off an hours-long gunbattle, according to Ghulam Rabani Rabani, a provincial council member. Along with the 15 policemen killed, two other officers were wounded in the assault, he said.

LASHKAR GAH, Afghanistan, Oct. 21 (Xinhua) -- A special combat unit of Afghan security forces has started operation to stabilize Afghanistan's war-ravaged provinces involving a major gas pipeline project, an official said Monday.

Construction work of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) pipeline project in Afghan territory was inaugurated in February 2018.

However, less works has been done in Afghanistan terrain so far as security issue over the construction and maintenance of the line has remained big concerns.