Tag: Afghanistan

Amid intense drought, deadly rains lash Afghanistan

KABUL, Afghanistan (AFP) — Torrential rainstorms have lashed drought-stricken Afghanistan in recent days, bringing widespread flooding that has killed at least five people and washed away homes including in the capital Kabul, officials said Tuesday. While some welcomed the wet weather after the punishing dry spell of recent years, residents complained about the lack of infrastructure and government assistance to help them clear up from the deluge. Sixteen of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces were hit in […]

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ICC judges turn down request to open Afghanistan war crimes probe after US revokes prosecutor’s visa

  THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AFP) — Judges at the International Criminal Court Friday turned down a request to open a war crimes probe in Afghanistan, a week after Washington revoked the court’s chief prosecutor’s visa over the case. “The judges decided that an investigation into the situation in Afghanistan at this stage would not serve the interests of justice,” the Hague-based court said in a statement. Fatou Bensouda’s US visa was revoked over a possible […]

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Acting Pentagon chief Patrick Shanahan arrives in Afghanistan

KABUL, Afghanistan (AFP) — Acting Pentagon chief Patrick Shanahan arrived in Afghanistan on a surprise visit Monday as the United States seeks to support the Kabul government while negotiating peace with the Taliban. Shanahan will meet President Ashraf Ghani, whose government was not part of major talks between US and Taliban officials last month that negotiators hope could bring a breakthrough in the grinding 17-year conflict. The US diplomat leading the talks has expressed hope […]

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Around 65 killed in Taliban attack on Afghan intel base: local official

GHAZNI, Afghanistan (AFP) — Around 65 people were killed in a Taliban-claimed attack on an Afghan intelligence base, a local official said Tuesday, raising the toll substantially from 12 announced previously. “We took about 65 bodies out of the rubble yesterday,” Mohammad Sardar Bakhyari, deputy head of the provincial council in Wardak province, where the attack occurred on Monday in the latest blow to beleaguered security forces. A senior security official who spoke on condition […]

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Afghan talent show singer finds fame as Justin Trudeau’s double

by Allison JACKSON Agence France-Presse KABUL, Afghanistan (AFP) — An Afghan talent show contestant’s striking resemblance to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has turned him into an unlikely celebrity in the war-torn country — and potentially given him the winning edge. Abdul Salam Maftoon, a wedding singer from a village in the remote and impoverished northeastern province of Badakhshan, had never even heard of his more famous doppelganger until a judge on the popular television […]

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Kabul faces water crisis as drought, population strain supply

by Laurent ABADIE Agence France-Presse KABUL, Afghanistan (AFP) — Standing in his garden in Kabul, Baz Mohammad Kochi oversees the drilling of a new well more than 100 meters deep after his first water reservoir dried up. He is not alone. A shortage of rain and snow, a booming population and wasteful consumption have drained the Afghan capital’s water basin and sparked a race to the bottom as households and businesses bore deeper and deeper […]

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At least 43 killed in Kabul govt compound attack

  by Emal HAIDARY / Usman SHARIFI Agence France Presse KABUL, Afghanistan (AFP) — An hour-long gun and suicide attack on a Kabul government compound killed at least 43 people, the health ministry said Tuesday, making it one of the deadliest assaults on the Afghan capital this year. No militant group has claimed responsibility for the raid, which caps a bloody year for Afghanistan as long-suffering civilians and security forces are slaughtered in record numbers. […]

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Casualties feared as huge explosion rocks Kabul

KABUL, Afghanistan (AFP) — Casualties are feared after a huge explosion rocked Kabul on Monday close to where scores of Afghans had been protesting against Taliban attacks on the minority Hazara ethnic group. The blast struck in front of a high school in the downtown area of the Afghan capital, the interior ministry said. A photo shared on the popular WhatsApp messaging app showed several bodies laying on the ground. “It was a huge blast […]

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Marine combat veteran who killed 12 in crowded California bar saw combat in Afghanistan

  The 28-year-old US Marine Corps combat veteran who opened fire in a crowded country music bar in California, killing 12 people including a police officer, had long served in the Marine Corps from August 2008 to March 2013, according to the Pentagon. The assailant, identified as Ian David Long, a troubled former machine gunner who served a tour in Afghanistan, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. He attained the rank of corporal and saw […]

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Afghan attack won’t change Kandahar security situation: Mattis

SINGAPORE, Singapore (AFP) — US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Friday the killing of a top Afghan official would not fundamentally change the security situation in Kandahar province. The Taliban have claimed responsibility for Thursday’s shooting in the restive southern province that killed anti-Taliban strongman and police chief, General Abdul Raziq. At least two other people died during the attack inside a fortified government compound in Kandahar city that targeted a high-level security meeting. The […]

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US F-35 fighters fly first ever combat mission

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — American F-35 stealth fighters have been used in a combat operation for the first time, officials said, marking a major milestone for the most expensive plane in history. Thursday’s mission took place against Taliban targets in Afghanistan’s Kandahar province, when the F-35s flew from the USS Essex amphibious assault ship. The planes deployed were the F-35B variant, used by the Marine Corps and capable of taking off from a short […]

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Death toll in Tuesday suicide attack soars to 68: Afghan officials

JALALABAD, Afghanistan (AFP) — The death toll from a suicide attack on Afghan protesters has soared to 68, officials said Wednesday, as violence flares across the country ahead of elections and a key Islamic holy day. Another 165 were wounded in the blast — one of the deadliest attacks this year — on Tuesday in the eastern province of Nangarhar, provincial governor spokesman Ataullah Khogyani said. There has been no claim of responsibility for the […]

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