Afghanistan

KABUL/PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) - As U.S. and Taliban negotiators push to wrap up talks aimed at securing the withdrawal of foreign forces from Afghanistan, Taliban sources say a pact will not mean an end to fighting with the U.S.-backed Afghan government.

U.S. and Taliban officials have been negotiating in Qatar since last year on an agreement centered on the withdrawal of U.S. forces, and an end to their longest-ever war, in exchange for a Taliban guarantee that international militant groups will not plot from Afghan soil.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Two yellow burqas are on display at a television station in Kabul, bright versions of the blue ghostlike garments some women in the capital still wear. For the young women at Zan TV they are relics, a reminder of a Taliban-ruled past that few of them can recall.

KUNDUZ, Afghanistan, Aug. 25 (Xinhua) -- The security forces have killed two mine experts of the Taliban outfit in Khan Abad district of Afghanistan's northern Kunduz province on Saturday, district governor Hayatullah Amiri said on Sunday.

According to the official, the security forces stormed a house in Chartot area in the restive Khan Abad district on Saturday afternoon, killing two mine experts who were busy making mines to target security personnel.

No civilian had been hurt during the raid, the official said, and the Taliban militants haven't commented.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A United States envoy and the Taliban resumed negotiations Thursday on ending America’s longest war after earlier signaling they were close to a deal.

A Taliban member familiar with, but not part of, the talks that resumed in Qatar said U.S. envoy Zalmay Khalilzad also met one-on-one Wednesday with the Taliban’s lead negotiator, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar. The Taliban member spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk with reporters.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The United States envoy negotiating with the Taliban for an end to nearly 18 years of fighting in Afghanistan was departing Tuesday for Qatar to resume talks, the State Department said, amid concerns about a growing threat by an Islamic State affiliate.

Zalmay Khalilzad also will visit with the Afghan government, which has been sidelined from the talks, to discuss the “peace process and encourage full preparation for intra-Afghan negotiations,” the U.S. said.

KABUL (Reuters) - The number of people wounded in multiple bomb blasts in the Afghan city of Jalalabad has risen to 123, officials said on Tuesday, a day after 14 bombs exploded in public squares, markets and outside restaurants in the eastern city.

No militant group has claimed responsibility for the attacks but both Islamic State (IS) and the Taliban militants operate in the area, which borders Pakistan.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The Taliban fighters arrived with hammers and hatred. What they left behind is laid out on tables at the National Museum of Afghanistan, 18 years later: shattered pieces of ancient Buddha figurines, smashed because they were judged to be against Islam.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A suicide bombing at a wedding party in Kabul claimed by a local Islamic State affiliate has renewed fears about the growing threat posed by its thousands of fighters, as well as their ability to plot global attacks from a stronghold in the forbidding mountains of northeastern Afghanistan.

The attack came as the Taliban appear to be nearing a deal with the U.S. to end nearly 18 years of fighting. Now Washington hopes the Taliban can help rein in IS fighters, even as some worry that Taliban fighters, disenchanted by a peace deal, could join IS.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghanistan’s president on Monday vowed to “eliminate” all safe havens of the Islamic State group as the country marked a subdued 100th Independence Day after a horrific wedding attack claimed by the local IS affiliate.

President Ashraf Ghani’s comments came as Afghanistan mourns at least 63 people, including children, killed in the Kabul bombing at a wedding hall late Saturday night. Close to 200 others were wounded.

PESHAWAR, Pakistan/KABUL (Reuters) - Afghan Taliban officials said on Saturday the killing of the brother of their leader in a bomb attack would not derail talks with the United States aimed at securing the withdrawal of U.S. troops after 18 years of war.

There was no claim of responsibility for the bomb that killed the younger brother of Taliban leader Haibatullah Akhundzada near the Pakistani city of Quetta on Friday.