Latest Afghanistan News
Taliban and US officials to meet amid quake relief efforts
ISLAMABAD (AP) — Afghan finance and central bank officials from the Taliban-led government departed for Qatar on Wednesday to meet with U.S. officials, the Taliban said. The meeting follows last week’s deadly earthquake, which brought into focus how relief and emergency aid efforts have...
Gunmen kill 2 policemen, polio worker in northwest Pakistan
PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Gunmen on motorcycles opened fire on Pakistani police escorting a team of polio workers Tuesday during a door-to-door inoculation campaign in a former Pakistani Taliban stronghold, killing two policemen and a polio worker, police said. No one immediately...
Russia working on Taliban ties, Putin says in Tajikistan
MOSCOW (AP) — President Vladimir Putin says Russia is trying to build relations with the Taliban and that Russia wants to see all the ethnic groups in Afghanistan take part in running the country. Putin's statement Tuesday came in a meeting with President Emomali Rahmon of...
Putin to make 1st trip abroad since Ukraine conflict's start
MOSCOW (AP) — President Vladimir Putin is making his first public foreign trip since Russia sent troops into Ukraine, heading for two former Soviet republics and meetings likely to be friendly. Ahead of the trip beginning Tuesday to Tajikistan and Turkmenistan, there were no...
Death toll of children in Afghanistan quake rises to 155
GAYAN, Afghanistan (AP) — The death toll of children in last week's devastating earthquake in southeastern Afghanistan has risen to at least 155, the United Nations said as the scope of the deadliest quake to hit the impoverished country in two decades comes into focus. The U.N.'s...
Pakistani army says shootout with militants killed 2 troops
ISLAMABAD (AP) — A shootout between Pakistani soldiers and militants in the country’s northwest, near the border with Afghanistan, has killed two soldiers and seven militants, the army said. According to a military statement, the exchange took place on Sunday in Ghulam Khan, a...
Destruction everywhere, help scarce after Afghanistan quake
GAYAN, Afghanistan (AP) — When the ground heaved from last week’s earthquake in Afghanistan, Nahim Gul’s stone-and-mud house collapsed on top of him. He clawed through the rubble in the predawn darkness, choking on dust as he searched for his father and two sisters. He doesn't...
Deadly quake a new blow to Afghans reeling from poverty
GAYAN, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghanistan’s deadly earthquake this week struck one of the poorest corners of a country that has been hollowed out by increasing poverty. Even as more aid arrived Saturday, many residents have no idea how they will rebuild the thousands of homes destroyed in villages...
Aftershock in Afghanistan as quake toll rises to 1,150 dead
GAYAN, Afghanistan (AP) — An aftershock took more lives Friday and threatened to pile even more misery on an area of eastern Afghanistan reeling from a powerful earthquake that state media said killed 1,150 people this week. Among the dead from Wednesday's magnitude 6 quake are...
US: Afghan national freed from Guantanamo Bay after 15 years
ISLAMABAD (AP) — An Afghan prisoner held in U.S. custody for nearly 15 years has been released from the Guantanamo Bay detention center after a federal court ruled that he was unlawfully detained, the U.S. Department of Defense said Friday. Asadullah Haroon Gul's release was first...
