Giustozzi, a leading Taliban expert, disputed the idea that the Taliban are necessarily bent on

In early May, a Taliban commander telephoned Muhammad Jallal, a tribal elder in Baghlan Province in northern Afghanistan, and asked him to deliver a message to Afghan government troops at several bases in his district.“ If they do not surrender, we will kill them, ” Mr.... More than 100 security forces handed over weapons and equipment and were sent home unharmed. The Taliban’s strategy of coercion and persuasion was repeated across the country, unfolding for months as a focal point of the insu

ISLAMABAD( Reuters)-Last month, the family of Mawlavi Ezzatullah, a member of Afghanistan's Hizb-e Islami party, received a WhatsApp message from his phone:" We have slaughtered your Mawlavi Ezzat, come and collect his body." Ezzatullah's killing, in the eastern province of Nangarhar, was one of a steady stream of assassinations and bombings that have undermined Taliban claims that they have brought greater security to Afghanistan after 40 years of war. Victims have ranged from former security o

KABUL( AFP)-The Taleban now control around half of Afghanistan's districts after lightning offensives in the months since foreign troops began their final withdrawal from the country. But analysts and officials said their military victory is far from guaranteed, pointing to the ability and resources of the Afghan defence forces, who remain in control of major cities. Here is how the two forces compare: Personnel The total strength of the Afghan national security forces-including the army, specia

The news filtered through the teachers, in subdued meetings at students’ homes.... So three years ago, girls older than 12 stopped attending classes in the two rural districts just south of this low-slung provincial capital in Afghanistan’s northwest.... Male teachers were abruptly fired: What they had done, provided an education to girls, was against Islam, the Taliban said. All over Afghanistan the orders have been similar to those issued just 40 miles south of Jowzjan Province’s capital....