World

Kabul, Aug 15: The Taliban and Afghan government officials are in negotiations for a peaceful transfer of power after fighters encircled the capital Kabul. Taliban troops surrounded Afghanistan’s seat of power on Sunday but promised not to attack as handover talks were under way. The group said it has instructed its fighters to refrain from violence and offer safe passage to anyone wishing to

Kabul, Aug 14: The Taliban seized a province just south of Afghanistan's capital and launched a multi-pronged assault early Saturday on Mazar-e-Sharif, a major city in the north defended by powerful former warlords, Afghan officials said. Homa Ahmadi, a lawmaker from Logar, says the Taliban control the entire province, including its capital, and reached a district in the neighbouring Kabul

Qatar, Aug 13: Twelve nations, including the US, India, Pakistan and China, along with representatives of the UN and EU have decided that they would not recognise any government in Afghanistan that seeks to take control through the barrel of a gun, the State Department has said, amid the continued Taliban offensive across the war-torn country. Representatives from the United States and Qatar, the

Kabul, Aug 13: The Taliban have captured the key southern city of Lashkar Gah, a senior Afghan security source told media on Friday, confirming a claim by the insurgents. Military and government officials had evacuated the city after striking a deal with the Taliban, the security source told media. The Taliban claimed Friday to have captured Kandahar, Afghanistan's second-largest city, which would

Kabul, Aug 12: The Taliban have taken the strategic Afghan city of Ghazni just 150 kilometres (95 miles) from Kabul, a senior lawmaker and the insurgents said Thursday. The city -- the 10th provincial capital to fall to the insurgents in a week -- lies along the major Kabul-Kandahar highway, effectively serving as a gateway between the capital and militant strongholds in the south. "The Taliban

Washington, Aug 11: Taleban tightened their grip on captured Afghan territory on Tuesday, now controlling 65 per cent of the country, as US President Joe Biden urged the nation's US-backed political leaders to fight for their homeland. Pul-e-Khumri, capital of the northern province of Baghlan, fell to the Taleban on Tuesday evening, according to residents who reported Afghan security forces

New Delhi, Aug 10: With the Afghan government locked in a violent clash with the Taliban, there has been a surge in human rights violations recently. Numerous civilian deaths as well as the destruction of mosques and incidents involving the assault of women have dominated news headline, with several nations urging citizens to leave the country. On Tuesday, the Indian Consulate in Afghanistan's

Kabul, Aug 8: The Taliban said Sunday they had captured the key Afghan city of Kunduz, a claim confirmed by independent media outlets, as fierce fighting raged in the centre of a second northern capital. Kunduz is the third provincial capital to fall in the past three days, but the most significant Taliban gain since the insurgents launched an offensive in May as foreign forces began the final

Washington, Aug 2: The United States’ top infectious disease expert Sunday predicted that the number of cases and hospitalisations in the United States “will get worse” but that measures seen in the early days of the pandemic, such as closing businesses, were unlikely to return. In an interview on “This Week,” Dr Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases

Kabul, July 24: US military aircraft struck a number of Taliban positions this week in support of faltering Afghan government forces, in one of the first significant American reactions to the anti-occupation forces’ blistering advance across Afghanistan as US troops withdraw. At least one of the strikes was against Taliban positions in the key southern city of Kandahar, slowing an advance that