KABUL, Afghanistan — Trucks with heavy machine guns stopped at street corners, unloading men in camouflage carrying radios and assault rifles.... On Patrol: A group of Times journalists spent 12 days with a Taliban police unit in Kabul.... A Times reporter who served as a Marine in Afghanistan returned to interview a Taliban commander he once fought....

Afghanistan’s rapidly advancing Taliban insurgents entered a western provincial capital, an official said on Friday, hours after they captured the country’s second and third largest cities in a lightning advance just weeks before America is set to end its longest war. The seizure of Kandahar and Herat marks the biggest prizes yet for the Taliban, who have taken 12 of Afghanistan’s 34 provincial capitals as part of a week-long blitz. While the nation’s capital, Kabul, isn’t directly under threat

Here are the AP’s latest coverage plans, top stories and promotable content.... That likely will complicate any relief efforts for this country of 38 million people.... Pursuing photos and videos. Recommended Train strike: Stations deserted as UK grinds to halt CAPITOL RIOT-INVESTIGATION — The House Jan....

ARZO, Afghanistan — When Muhammad Akram Sharifi returned to the village he was forced to flee over a year ago, he was devastated.... So was his house.“ My children, my grandchildren — 22 people used to live here, ” Mr.... ” It is impossible to say how much ammunition was spent in fight between the Taliban and the Afghan government fighting over the village, Arzo....

Former President Ashraf Ghani of Afghanistan said he fled the country to prevent the destruction of Kabul as Taliban fighters advanced on the capital, offering the most detailed defense of his actions since the government’s collapse in August.Mr.... Ghani, along with his wife and close associates, fled on the afternoon of Aug.... Ghani told BBC’s Radio 4 that if he took “ a stand, ” the presidential palace security guards would have been killed.“ And they were not capable of defending me, ” he