Afghan Government

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In this photo provided by Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, right, greets members of a Taliban political team on their arrival at the Foreign Ministry for talks, in Islamabad, Pakistan, Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2020. The team arrived in Pakistan on Monday as efforts appear to be ramping up to get negotiations underway between the Afghan government and the insurgents. The start of the talks, envisaged under a U.S.-Taliban peace agreement signed in February, was hampered by a series of delays that have frustrated Washington. (Pakistan Ministry of Foreign Affairs via AP) **FILE**

Afghan officials hopeful Taliban peace talks begin next week

By Lauren Toms - The Washington Times

FILE - In this May 28, 2019 file photo, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Taliban group's top political leader, second left, arrives with other members of the Taliban delegation for talks in Moscow, Russia. The top Taliban negotiator says the group's chief has finalized a negotiating team that will have sweeping decision-making powers in upcoming intra-Afghan negotiations. The Taliban official spoke to The Associated Press on Sunday, Aug. 23, 2020. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko, File)

Taliban negotiators visit Pakistan to talk Afghan peace push

By KATHY GANNON - Associated Press

Afghan Presidential spokesman Sediq Seddiqi gives an interview to The Associated Press in Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday, Aug. 17, 2020. The Afghan government says it will not release the last Taliban prisoners it is holding until the insurgents free more captured soldiers, defying a traditional council held last week and further delaying intra-Afghan talks sought by the United States. The talks, which were laid out in a peace deal signed between the United States and the Taliban in February, were expected to begin on Thursday but are now postponed indefinitely. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)

Afghans halt prisoner release, delaying talks with Taliban

By RAHIM FAIEZ and KATHY GANNON - Associated Press

FILE - In this Feb. 5, 2019, file photo, Afghan politician Fawzia Koofi speaks to media before the &quot;intra-Afghan&quot; talks in Moscow, Russia. Koofi survived an assassination attempt, Afghan officials said Saturday, Aug. 15, 2020. A spokesman for the Interior Ministry said that Koofi was attacked late Friday afternoon near the capital of Kabul returning from a visit to the northern province of Parwan. (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin)

Female member of Afghan peace team survives attack by gunmen

By RAHIM FAIEZ - Associated Press

FILE - In this Aug. 19, 2019, file photo, a man waves an Afghan national flag during Independence Day celebrations in Kabul, Afghanistan. Washington’s watchdog warns, Thursday, June 25, 2020, that “systemic” corruption within the Afghan government is weakening its bargaining position in future peace negotiations with the Taliban, even as the insurgent group's political spokesman says the group was ready with its agenda for talks. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool, File)

US watchdog: Afghan gov’t weakened ahead of Taliban talks

By KATHY GANNON - Associated Press

In this Aug. 19, 2019, photo, a man waves an Afghan national flag during Independence Day celebrations in Kabul, Afghanistan. Taliban fighters attacked an army checkpoint in eastern Afghanistan, killing 14 military personnel, the Defense Ministry said Friday, May 29, 2020. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool) **FILE**

Top Afghan official says peace still possible with Taliban despite claims of spike in violence

By Guy Taylor - The Washington Times

U.S. Central Command Commander Marine Gen. Kenneth McKenzie speaks, Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2019, at a joint press briefing at the Pentagon in Washington on the Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi raid. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

Gen. Kenneth McKenzie fears Taliban won’t live up to peace deal

By Lauren Toms - The Washington Times

An injured man is carried into a hospital after a car bomb explosion in Kabul, Afghanistan, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2019. A car bomb rocked the Afghan capital on Thursday and smoke rose from a part of eastern Kabul near a neighborhood housing the U.S. Embassy, the NATO Resolute Support mission and other diplomatic missions. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)

Taliban in Kabul to discuss prisoner releases under US deal

By KATHY GANNON AND TAMEEM AKHGAR - Associated Press

Afghan Taliban prisoners are released from Bagram Prison in Parwan province, Afghanistan, Tuesday, May 26, 2020.The Afghan government freed hundreds of prisoners, its single largest prisoner release since the U.S. and the Taliban signed a peace deal earlier this year that spells out an exchange of detainees between the warring sides. (AP Photo/ Rahmat Gul)

Afghanistan peace talks see life with Taliban prisoner release

By Guy Taylor - The Washington Times

Washington's peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad attends the inauguration ceremony for Afghan President Ashraf Ghani at the presidential palace in Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday, March 9, 2020. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul) ** FILE **

U.S. remains committed to Afghan peace process despite ongoing violence, Khalilzad says

By Lauren Toms - The Washington Times

Smokes rises from a maternity hospital, after gunmen attacked in Kabul, Afghanistan, Tuesday, May 12, 2020. Gunmen stormed the hospital in the western part of Kabul on Tuesday, setting off a shootout with the police and killing several people. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)

Afghanistan maternity ward attack undermines Taliban peace plan

By Ben Wolfgang - The Washington Times

FILE - In this Feb. 29, 2020 file photo, U.S. peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad, left, and Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Taliban group's top political leader sign a peace agreement between Taliban and U.S. officials in Doha, Qatar. The Taliban in a statement Sunday, April 5, 2020, said that a peace deal they signed with the United States is near breaking point accusing Washington of violations that included drone attacks on civilians, while chastising the Afghan government for dithering on the release of 5,000 Taliban prisoners, promised in the agreement. (AP Photo/Hussein Sayed, File)

Taliban warn peace deal with US near breaking point

By KATHY GANNON - Associated Press

Under an Afghan presidential decree, 1,500 Taliban prisoners are to be released as a goodwill gesture to get intra-Afghan negotiations started. (Associated Press/File)

Ashraf Ghani delays Afghanistan’s Taliban prisoner release

By Mike Glenn - The Washington Times

Blood stains and shoes are seen the aftermath of Friday's deadly attack on memorial ceremony in Kabul, Afghanistan, Saturday, March 7, 2020. Gunmen opened fire Friday at a ceremony in Afghanistan's capital attended by prominent political leaders, killing dozens of people and wounding many more before the two attackers were slain by police, officials said. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)

U.S.-Taliban peace deal threatened by Afghanistan violence

By Guy Taylor - The Washington Times

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks during a news conference at the State Department in Washington, Thursday, March, 5, 2020. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster) **FILE**

Mike Pompeo slams ICC plan to probe U.S. officials for war crimes

By Guy Taylor - The Washington Times

In this Monday, March 2, 2020, file photo, U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper, left, speaks during a briefing with the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Army Gen. Mark Milley, at the Pentagon in Washington. The U.S. military said Wednesday, March 4, 2020, that it has conducted an airstrike against Taliban forces in southern Afghanistan, only days after American and Taliban officials signed an ambitious peace deal in Doha, Qatar. A U.S. military spokesman said in a tweet Wednesday that it was the first U.S. strike against the militant group in 11 days. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)

Donald Trump’s Taliban deal thrown into question by wave of attacks and U.S. strike

By Guy Taylor - The Washington Times

In this Monday, March 2, 2020, file photo, U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper, left, speaks during a briefing with the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Army Gen. Mark Milley, at the Pentagon in Washington. The U.S. military said Wednesday, March 4, 2020, that it has conducted an airstrike against Taliban forces in southern Afghanistan, only days after American and Taliban officials signed an ambitious peace deal in Doha, Qatar. A U.S. military spokesman said in a tweet Wednesday that it was the first U.S. strike against the militant group in 11 days. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)

U.S. strikes Taliban forces, in first hit since peace deal

By Tameen Akhgar - Associated Press

In this May 28, 2019, photo, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Taliban group's top political leader, second left, arrives with other members of the Taliban delegation for talks in Moscow, Russia. U.S. peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad held on Saturday, Dec. 7, 2019, the first official talks with Afghanistan's Taliban since last September when President Donald Trump declared a near-certain peace deal with the insurgents dead. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko) **FILE**

Taliban says Afghanistan peace deal signing in February possible

By Guy Taylor - The Washington Times

FILE - In this May 3, 2019, photo, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani speaks on the last day of the Afghan Loya Jirga meeting in Kabul, Afghanistan. Taliban officials have told The Associated Press that three Taliban prisoners released by Kabul have been flown to Qatar for a swap for an American and an Australian hostage held by the insurgents. The three Taliban prisoners were to have been freed more than one week ago by Afghan President Ashraf Ghani. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul, File)

The Latest: Pompeo calls prisoner exchange a ‘hopeful sign”

Associated Press

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks to the media before departing from al-Bateen Air Base in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2019, as U.S. special representative on Iran Brian Hook, left, listens. (Mandel Ngan/Pool via AP)

US takes back $100 million from Afghan govt over corruption

By KATHY GANNON - Associated Press