KABUL (Sputnik) – The United States’ move to resume “excessive” airstrikes in Afghanistan amid clashes in the southern province of Helmand presents a grave violation of the Doha agreement, the Taliban said on Sunday. “According to the Doha agreement, the American forces are prohibited from carrying out airstrikes or targeting anyone in areas other than combat zones or during active fighting. However, over the past few […]
Taliban
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Afghans flee to Lashkar Gah, Helmand’s provincial capital, during fighting between Taliban and Afghan security forces on Monday. Local authorities estimate that some 35,000 people have been displaced into Lashkar Gah since a Taliban offensive began in Helmand. AFP via Getty Images hide caption toggle caption AFP via Getty Images Afghans flee to Lashkar Gah, Helmand’s provincial capital, during fighting between Taliban and Afghan security forces […]
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid has rubbished the CBS News interpretation of his words. The network provoked uproar claiming that the militant group wants Trump to win the election and withdraw troops from Afghanistan. The “clarification” from the Taliban spokesman came hours after a report that the militant group threw its weight behind Trump set Twitter alight, with the president’s detractors seizing upon the unusual endorsement to […]
Zachary Leeman is a US-based journalist and author of the novel Nigh. A Taliban spokesman has said they hope Donald Trump wins November’s election, giving his critics plenty of ammo to attack him with. What some of them likely don’t realize they’re doing, though, is arguing for more war. “We hope he will win the election and wind up US military presence in Afghanistan,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah […]
US President Donald Trump said Thursday that he wanted to have US troops in Afghanistan home by Christmas, after 19 years of combat in the Middle East. The assertion reportedly caught many military and civil officials by surprise and is seen by some Democrats as a way for Trump to gain additional points prior to the 3 November election. Leaders of the Afghan militant group, the Taliban, […]
After two months of digging for evidence that Russia’s government paid bounties to Taliban forces to kill American forces in Afghanistan, as reported by the New York Times, the US military has found no corroboration. “It just has not been proved to a level of certainty that satisfies me,” General Frank McKenzie, the commander who oversees US troops in Afghanistan, reportedly told NBC News on Monday. […]
DOHA (Sputnik) – Intra-Afghan negotiations to reach peace between the Kabul administration and the Taliban movement started in Qatar’s Doha on Saturday, a Sputnik correspondent reported. Both sides have sent delegations of more than 20 people to participate in talks. Abdullah Abdullah, the chairman of the High Council for National Reconciliation, who leads the government’s delegation, has said that the country intends to end the decades-long […]
Since being overthrown in 2001 after the invasion of US forces, the Taliban have refused to negotiate with the Afghan government, choosing instead to hold talks with representatives from Washington. A landmark peace deal signed between the militant organization and the United States on 29 February set the stage for intra-Afghan talks, although the staging of negotiations would rest on both sides complying with a prisoner […]
https://cdn1.img.sputniknews.com/i/logo-itemprop.png Sputnik International https://cdn2.img.sputniknews.com/i/logo.png Sputnik https://cdn2.img.sputniknews.com/i/logo.png https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/202009111080425370-taliban-militants-attack-afghan-forces-in-nangarhar-province-at-least-16-killed-source-claims/ On Thursday, the Taliban confirmed that the opening ceremony of intra-Afghan peace talks will begin on Saturday, following a peace greement between the Taliban and the United States Taliban militants attacked the security forces of Afghanistan in eastern province of Nangarhar, leaving at least 16 soldiers killed and more injured, a local source told Sputnik on Friday. The militants […]
Afghanistan has released the first 80 of its 400 remaining Taliban prisoners as part of a peace deal with the US, which is contingent on the US also withdrawing all its troops from the country. However, the US “deep state” may be trying to sabotage the deal, Mark Sleboda, a Moscow-based international relations and security analyst, told Sputnik. “We have to remember that the US-installed Afghan […]
Afghanistan’s capital has been hit by multiple rockets in an attack that appears to have targeted the main diplomatic district which houses embassies. At least 10 people have been injured in the attack, local media reported. “Several rockets were fired from two vehicles,” Ministry of Interior spokesman Tariq Arian said on Tuesday, as cited by Reuters. Photographs and videos show plumes of black smoke rising from […]
Last week, the president said he would be “very angry” if the information published in the US media about alleged Russian payments to Taliban militants for the killing of American troops was proven to be true. Previously, Russian and US officials and even the Afghan militants themselves had all dismissed the allegations. US President Donald Trump has reiterated that has not seen any evidence to suggest […]
The U.S. State Department has issued warnings to Russia that there will be repercussions if Moscow pays bounties to the Taliban for successfully killing American soldiers, according to two senior American officials and another individual with knowledge of the matter. The warnings were issued through the department’s diplomatic channels after public news reports in June that the U.S. had gathered intelligence about the Russian bounties, those […]
The Taliban has said it is ready for talks with Afghanistan’s political leadership after the Muslim holiday of Eid ul-Adha at the end of July. The movement also offered to hand over the last of the government prisoners in a week’s time, providing the government frees the last of its Taliban prisoners, AP reports. The offer was made by the Taliban’s political spokesman Suhail Shaheen in […]
A Taliban official has dismissed as fake and a byproduct of US political infighting the sensational New York Times report claiming Russia had paid it to kill US troops in Afghanistan, in a segment on RT’s show Going Underground. The story – based on anonymous sources – was broken by the Times last month, and triggered a fresh wave of anti-Trump indignation in the media and […]
Since the United States first began its occupation of Afghanistan in 2001, remaining troops have had to aid the Kabul government in its fight against the Taliban regime. Washington is now prioritising an agreement with the Islamist group in an effort to end ongoing violence. The US has closed down five military bases in Afghanistan as part of a deal with the Taliban agreed to more than four months […]
Not long before Christmas in 2017, Vladimir Putin, the former KGB officer turned Russian leader, did something uncharacteristic. He praised the CIA. Russian security officials had arrested people on suspicion of plotting terrorist attacks on St. Petersburg sites that included the majestic Kazan Cathedral. Intelligence warning of the allegedly imminent assault attacks came not from Russian sources, but from Langley. “The information received from the CIA […]
https://cdn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/107982/43/1079824303_0:0:2920:1643_1200x675_80_0_0_d27783f1bc7f39c169a39bb910561bd7.jpg Sputnik International https://cdn2.img.sputniknews.com/i/logo.png Sputnik https://cdn2.img.sputniknews.com/i/logo.png https://sputniknews.com/asia/202007081079824332-taliban-demands-release-of-600-blacklisted-insurgents-pakistani-fighters—source/ KABUL (Sputnik) – The Afghan government is hanging back on releasing 600 of prisoners on the Taliban’s* list under the US-negotiated deal due to the fact that some of them are on the US and Afghan security blacklists and others are Pakistani fighters, a knowledgeable source in the government told Sputnik on Tuesday. “There are 250 of them on […]
In late June, anonymous intelligence sources told The New York Times that Russia had been offering Taliban fighters cash rewards for killing US and coalition troops in Afghanistan, and alleged that President Trump was informed about it but did nothing. Trump, Moscow, and the Taliban itself have all dismissed the allegations. The Trump administration has narrowed down its search for the NYT ‘Taliban bounties’ story’s intelligence […]
A New York Times report claiming American intelligence agencies had information about Russia paying the Taliban for attacks on US forces has been denied by both countries’ governments, as well as by the American intelligence community itself. Despite this, the NYT has continued to publish articles based on the report, which is deemed fraudulent. White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows has vowed that those who […]
https://cdn1.img.sputniknews.com/i/logo-itemprop.png Sputnik International https://cdn2.img.sputniknews.com/i/logo.png Sputnik https://cdn2.img.sputniknews.com/i/logo.png https://sputniknews.com/asia/202007041079794703-us-intelligence-which-accuses-russia-of-deal-with-taliban-is-involved-in-drug-trade-envoy-says/ YAKUTSK (Sputnik) – US intelligence is deeply involved in the Afghan drug trade at the same time as it accuses Russia of conspiring with the Taliban, Special Presidential Envoy on Afghanistan Zamir Kabulov said on Saturday. “Their [US intelligence’s] planes fly from Kandahar or Bagram to any destination – like Germany or Romania – without any checks. No wonder, […]
Earlier in the week, a video conference including Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, the chairman of the Afghan High Council for National Reconciliation (HCNR), Abdullah Abdullah, and US International Development Finance Corporation CEO Adam Boehler took place with a goal to discuss the situation in Afghanistan. In a statement following a Friday meeting with Qatar Fund For Development and the Qatar Investment Authority that also involved Taliban representatives, […]
You pay to kill our troops—we won’t invite you to our meeting of world leaders. That’s the scenario being mulled by senior officials in the upper echelons of the Trump administration, who are scrambling for a way to respond to Russia after news broke that Moscow paid bounties to the Taliban to kill U.S. forces. One idea these officials have raised with President Donald Trump in […]
Democrats, their liberal media, Never-Trump RINOs and Liz Cheney are very upset to hear Russia has been paying the Taliban to kill US soldiers in Afghanistan. They’re not doing a very good job.** There were 22 US deaths in Afghanistan total in 2019.** There have been 9 US deaths in Afghanistan so far this year. ** Compare that to the 496 deaths in 2010 and 412 […]
The sitting government in Kabul was the sole entity on Afghan soil to have received Russian arms, Moscow stated, the day after Mike Pompeo bluntly accused it of funneling weapons to the Taliban militants. “Russia has only supplied arms to the legitimate government of Afghanistan – something that is well known”, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told reporters on Thursday. The diplomat was taking aim at […]
In the days since The New York Times broke the news on U.S. intelligence examining claims of Russian bounties being offered to kill American military personnel in Afghanistan, President Donald Trump has turned his ire not at the Russian government, but instead on two of his favorite enemies: the news media and their confidential sources. According to two people familiar with the matter, the president in […]
The New York Times is doubling down on claims that Russia offered bounties for the killing of US troops in Afghanistan, but now says local criminals and not the Taliban were the recipients, again offering no actual evidence. The new article, published Tuesday, says that “electronic data showing large financial transfers from a bank account controlled by Russia’s military intelligence agency to a Taliban-linked account” was […]
A New York Times report last week claimed that Russia may have offered bounties to Afghan militants for killing US troops deployed to the Central Asian coutnry. Both Russia and the Taliban denied the accusations. The White House also insisted Trump wasn’t briefed on the matter. The Pentagon has no evidence to back up allegations about the Russia-Taliban collusion, according to Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman. “The […]
https://cdn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/105764/69/1057646924_0:87:2000:1212_1200x675_80_0_0_b5d8f54e5f8349de498ada451dc5ac30.jpg Sputnik International https://cdn2.img.sputniknews.com/i/logo.png Sputnik https://cdn2.img.sputniknews.com/i/logo.png https://sputniknews.com/asia/202006281079742611-nine-taliban-militants-killed-during-clashes-in-afghan-province-of-paktia/ KABUL (Sputnik) – Nine Taliban* militants have been killed and five others were wounded during armed clashes in the eastern Afghan province of Paktia, Hayatullah Nizami Ahmadzai, a spokesman for the provincial police force, said on Sunday. According to the spokesman, the clashes took place after militants launched an attack on a checkpoint in the Patan district of the […]
https://cdn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/107971/57/1079715761_0:0:2962:1667_1200x675_80_0_0_1628b4be99c82ecce54eb54a1056f0e3.jpg Sputnik International https://cdn2.img.sputniknews.com/i/logo.png Sputnik https://cdn2.img.sputniknews.com/i/logo.png https://sputniknews.com/world/202006281079742158-bolton-says-trumps-reaction-to-reports-of-conspiracy-between-russia-taliban-remarkable/ WASHINGTON (Sputnik) – US President Donald Trump’s denial of media reports that he was briefed by intelligence officials of an alleged conspiracy between Russia and the Taliban over the killing of US troops in Afghanistan is “remarkable,” Former White House National Security Adviser John Bolton said on Sunday. “It is pretty remarkable the president’s going out of his way […]
KABUL (Sputnik) – At least five members of the Taliban group have been killed in a blast in Afghanistan’s southeastern province of Paktia, the local police said on Sunday. According to a provincial police chief, the explosion took place while the militants were transferring landmines from the Bar Ghoreza area to the city of Gardez. A security source said on the condition of anonymity that in […]
The US director of national intelligence has distanced himself from an NYT report claiming Russia paid money to the Taliban for killing US soldiers in Afghanistan. He said the White House was never briefed on the matter. The claim published by the New York Times is, like many such stories, based on anonymous intelligence sources. It says Russia paid “Taliban-linked militants” in Afghanistan to kill US […]
https://cdn1.img.sputniknews.com/img/107925/62/1079256284_0:59:2903:1692_1200x675_80_0_0_2b71635ca67fad0ddb4c422def0538fc.jpg Sputnik International https://cdn2.img.sputniknews.com/i/logo.png Sputnik https://cdn2.img.sputniknews.com/i/logo.png https://sputniknews.com/asia/202006271079737523-one-police-officer-12-taliban-militants-killed-in-clash-in-eastern-afghanistan/ KABUL (Sputnik) – One police officer and 12 Taliban* militants have been killed in a clash in the Mirzaka district of Afghanistan’s eastern province of Paktia, local police said in a statement. “A group of insurgents attacked Mirzaka district, one policeman was killed and another one injured in the clash and 12 insurgents were killed and six others were […]