Afghanistan

JALALABAD (Afghanistan), July 29 (NNN-AGENCIES) — At least 40 people have been killed with 150 more missing in northern Afghanistan after flash floods ravaged an area northeast of the capital Kabul, officials said on Thursday.

A rescue operation was underway to find the missing people after torrential rains overwhelmed Kamdesh district in Nuristan province — about 200 kilometres northeast of Kabul.

“About 40 people were killed last night due to flash floods,” Saeedullah Nuristani, head of the provincial council, said.

KABUL, July 28 (Reuters) - China told a visiting Taliban delegation on Wednesday it expected the insurgent group to play an important role in ending Afghanistan's war and rebuilding the country, the Chinese foreign ministry said.

Nine Taliban representatives met Foreign Minister Wang Yi in the northern Chinese city of Tianjin on a two-day visit during which the peace process and security issues were discussed, a Taliban spokesperson said.

MAIMANA, Afghanistan, July 28 (Xinhua) -- At least 19 Taliban militants were killed and four hijacked military armored vehicles were destroyed on Wednesday when the Afghan Air Force targeted Taliban positions in the country's northern province of Faryab, the military confirmed.

The air force hit Taliban hideouts in Almar district at midday on Wednesday when Taliban militants intensified their offensive against the government forces on the outskirts of provincial capital Maimana, the army's 209th Shaheen Corps said in a statement.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — More women and children were killed and wounded in Afghanistan in the first half of 2021 than in the first six months of any year since the United Nations began systematically keeping count in 2009, a U.N. report said Monday.

The war-torn country saw a 47% increase in the number of all civilians killed and wounded in violence across Afghanistan in the first six months of the year, compared to the same period last year, according to the report.

KABUL, Jul 24 (NNN-XINHUA) – Thirty-three Taliban militants were killed and 17 others wounded, in Afghan Air Force (AAF) airstrikes, in two provinces yesterday, the country’s Defence Ministry confirmed today.

In northern Jawzjan province, 19 militants were killed and 15 wounded, after warplanes targeted their hideouts in Murghab and Hassan Tabbin villages, on the outskirts of provincial capital, Shiberghan, the ministry said in a statement.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — At least three rockets hit near the presidential palace on Tuesday shortly before Afghan President Ashraf Ghani was to give an address to mark the Muslim holiday of Eid-a-Adha.

There were no injuries and the rockets landed outside the heavily fortified palace grounds, said Mirwais Stanikzai, spokesman for the interior minister.

KABUL, July 19 (Reuters) - Fifteen diplomatic missions and the NATO representative in Afghanistan urged the Taliban on Monday to halt their military offensives just hours after the rival Afghan sides failed to agree on a ceasefire at a peace meeting in Doha.

A delegation of Afghan leaders met the Taliban's political leadership in the Qatari capital over the weekend but the Taliban, in a said in a statement late on Sunday, made no mention of a halt to Afghanistan's escalating violence. 

KABUL, July 17 (Reuters) - Afghan politicians met with representatives of the Taliban insurgents in Qatar on Saturday with each side calling for peace even as fighting escalates and uproots thousands of people.

Two decades of conflict have taken a turn for the worse as U.S.-led international forces withdraw and the Taliban launch offensives around Afghanistan, taking districts and border crossings while encircling provincial capitals.

KABUL, July 18 (Xinhua) -- At least 53 Taliban militants were killed and 38 others wounded in multiple airstrikes and battles in Afghanistan on Saturday, the Afghan Ministry of Defense said on Sunday.

In eastern Kapisa province, 18 militants were killed and 24 wounded after Afghan Air Force (AAF) conducted airstrikes in support of Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF) in suburban Tagab and the neighboring Nijrab districts, the ministry said in a statement.

Among the killed militants were three Taliban's divisional commanders, said the statement.

AYBAK, Afghanistan, July 17 (Xinhua) -- At least one civilian lost his life and nine others injured as two consecutive blasts rocked Aybak city, the capital of Afghanistan's northern Samangan province on Saturday, deputy to Interior Ministry spokesman Ahmad Zia Zia said.

"Two mines went off in Aybak city at around noon today, killing one civilian and injuring nine others," Zia confirmed to Xinhua.

Without providing more details, the official added that police had initiated investigation into the incident.

No group has claimed responsibility.