WASHINGTON (AP) — The question was posed in a private briefing to U.S. intelligence officials weeks before Russia launched its invasion in late February: Was Ukraine’s leader, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, made in the mold of Britain’s Winston Churchill or Afghanistan’s Ashraf Ghani?
ISLAMABAD (AP) — Afghanistan’s former president said he had no choice but to abruptly leave Kabul as the Taliban closed in and denied an agreement was in the works for a peaceful takeover, disputing the accounts of former Afghan and U.S.
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The Taliban didn't take the Afghan capital — they were invited, says the man who issued the invitation.
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghanistan’s new Taliban rulers are committed in principle to education and jobs for girls and women, a marked departure from their previous time in power, and they seek the world’s “mercy and compassion” to help millions of Afghans in desperate need, a top Taliban leader said in a rare interview.
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — It’s almost certain that Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers won't get to speak at this year's U.N. General Assembly meeting of world leaders.
The Taliban challenged the credentials of the ambassador from Afghanistan’s former government, which they ousted on Aug.
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A small flag shop, tucked away in the courtyard of a Kabul market, has documented Afghanistan’s turbulent history over the decades with its ever-changing merchandise.
Now the shop is filled with white Taliban flags, emblazoned with the Quran's Muslim statement of faith, in black Arabic lettering.
In a mountain valley north of Kabul, the last remnants of Afghanistan's shattered security forces have vowed to resist the Taliban in a remote region that has defied conquerors before. But any attempt to reenact that history could end in tragedy — or farce.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The warnings were clear: The Afghan government would likely fall once U.S. troops pulled out. But intelligence agencies and ultimately President Joe Biden missed how quickly it would happen, losing weeks that could have been used for evacuations and spurring a foreign policy crisis.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The warnings were clear: The Afghan government would likely fall once U.S. troops pulled out. But intelligence agencies and ultimately President Joe Biden missed how quickly it would happen, losing weeks that could have been used for evacuations and spurring a foreign policy crisis.
Four presidents share responsibility for the missteps in Afghanistan that accumulated over two decades. But only President Joe Biden will be the face of the war's chaotic, violent conclusion.
The president fought that reality Monday as he spread blame for the Taliban's swift and complete recapture of Afghanistan.
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. Security Council on Monday called for an immediate end to violence in Afghanistan following the Taliban takeover of the country, and for inclusive talks to form a new Afghan government that includes women.
MOSCOW (AP) — The Russian embassy in Kabul alleged Monday that Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has fled from Kabul with four cars and a helicopter full of cash, Russia’s state news agency RIA Novosti reported.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani slipped out of his country Sunday in the same way he had led it in recent years — a lonely and isolated figure.
Ghani quietly left the sprawling presidential palace with a small coterie of confidants — and didn’t even tell other political leaders who had been negotiating a peaceful transition of power with the Taliban that he was heading for the exit.
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The Taliban seized three more Afghan provincial capitals and a local army headquarters Wednesday, completing a blitz across the country's northeast and giving them control of two-thirds of the nation as the U.S.
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The Afghan president on Monday blamed the American troops' speedy pullout for the worsening violence in his country and said that his administration would now focus on protecting provincial capitals and major urban areas in the face of the rapidly advancing Taliban.
ISLAMABAD (AP) — The Taliban say they don’t want to monopolize power, but they insist there won’t be peace in Afghanistan until there is a new negotiated government in Kabul and President Ashraf Ghani is removed.
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 major Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden on Friday promised Afghanistan's top leaders a “sustained" partnership even as he moves to accelerate winding down the United States' longest war amid escalating Taliban violence.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said Friday that his government would do what it can to help secure the release of an American contractor abducted more than a year ago, though he said President Joe Biden didn't press him on the matter during a White House meeting.
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken made an unannounced visit to Afghanistan on Thursday to sell Afghan leaders and a wary public on President Joe Biden’s decision to withdraw all American troops from the country and end America's longest war...
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, on his first visit to Afghanistan as Pentagon chief, said Sunday that the Biden administration wants to see “a responsible end” to America's longest war, but the level of violence must decrease for “fruitful" diplomacy to have a chance...
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has made two key Cabinet changes, evoking a strong response Saturday from powerful governing partner Abdullah Abdullah amid increasing pressure from the U...
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghanistan’s interior minister said Saturday that Afghan security forces can hold their ground even if U...
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A prominent cleric and his driver were killed in an explosion from a bomb stuck to their car, one of a series of bombings around Kabul on Tuesday that also wounded seven people.
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Separate bombing and shooting attacks in Afghanistan's capital left at least three people dead Wednesday, including the head of an independent elections watchdog, officials said.
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A car bomb blast that rocked Afghanistan's capital Sunday morning killed at least nine people, according to the Afghan Interior Ministry...
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — In his three combat tours in Afghanistan, Gen. Mark Milley saw the Taliban as a formidable foe, one unlikely to “fade away in the dust,” as he put it in 2013...
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan met with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on his first official visit to Kabul on Thursday, focusing on the ongoing peace talks with the Taliban as well as on building trust and strengthening relations between the two often acrimonious neighbors...
ISLAMABAD (AP) — The long-awaited peace talks between the Taliban and the Afghan government's negotiating team are to begin on Saturday in the Gulf Arab state of Qatar, the Taliban and Qatar's foreign ministry said Thursday...
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghanistan's president has appointed a council for national reconciliation, which will have final say on whether the government will sign a peace deal with the Taliban after what are expected to be protracted and uncertain negotiations with the insurgents...
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A traditional Afghan council concluded Sunday with hundreds of delegates agreeing to free 400 Taliban members, paving the way for an early start to negotiations between Afghanistan's warring sides...
ISLAMABAD (AP) — The Taliban and Afghanistan's president announced late Saturday a three-day cease-fire ahead of a major Islamic holiday that begins Sunday to mark the end of the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan...
ISLAMABAD (AP) — The U.S. peace envoy to Afghanistan on Sunday called on the country's feuding leaders to set their differences aside to combat the coronavirus pandemic and advance a stalled peace agreement signed with the Taliban earlier this year...
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — After months of deliberation, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on Friday announced his 21-member team to negotiate peace with the Taliban, only to have his political opponent reject it as not inclusive enough...
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Washington's unprecedented threat to cut $1 billion in Afghanistan funding — a response to the refusal of rivals in Kabul to work together to advance peace — comes at a time when the impoverished nation risks being overwhelmed by the coronavirus pandemic.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration is slashing $1 billion in assistance to Afghanistan and threatening further reductions in all forms of cooperation after the country's rival leaders failed to agree on forming a new government...
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — After a series of delays, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani issued a decree early Wednesday promising to release 1,500 Taliban prisoners as a goodwill gesture to get intra-Afghan negotiations started...
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The United States began withdrawing troops from Afghanistan, the U.S. military said Tuesday, taking a step forward on its peace deal with the Taliban while also praising Afghan President Ashraf Ghani's promise to start releasing Taliban prisoners after he had delayed for over a week...
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghanistan's president said Sunday that he will not free thousands of Taliban prisoners ahead of all-Afghan power-sharing talks set for next week, publicly disagreeing with a timetable for a speedy prisoner release laid out just a day earlier in a U...
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Ashraf Ghani won a second term as president of Afghanistan, the country's independent election commission announced Tuesday, but his closest opponent refused to recognize the results, declaring himself winner and potentially endangering peace negotiations with the Taliban...
ISLAMABAD (AP) — The Taliban have issued an ultimatum to Washington after weeks of talks with a U...
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghanistan will need vast amounts of foreign funding to keep its government afloat through 2024, a U...
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghan President Ashraf Ghani appears to have narrowly won a second term, according to preliminary results from September's balloting that were announced Sunday, although his main challenger rejected the outcome as illegitimate...
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghan President Ashraf Ghani led a memorial Saturday in the capital Kabul to bid final farewell to a Japanese physician killed earlier this week in a roadside shooting in eastern Afghanistan that also killed five Afghans, who were traveling with him...
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Washington’s special peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad was in the Afghan capital Kabul on Wednesday to launch an “accelerated effort” to get Afghans on both sides of the protracted conflict to the negotiation table to plot a roadmap to a post-war Afghanistan...