Afghanistan

Afghanistan has refused to release more prisoners until the Taliban do, meaning important peace talks set to take place this week have stalled once again. France and Australia are backing Afghanistan's position.

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A vehicle carrying Fawzia Koofi, a lawmaker and women's rights activist, was attacked by gunmen late on August 14 … Koofi, a vocal critic of the Taliban, is part of the government’s 21-member team that will lead talks with the militants.

The US currently deploys 8,600 soldiers in Afghanistan, in accordance with a bilateral agreement signed February 29 in Doha between Washington and the Taliban. 

Ghani’s decision came after a government-sponsored grand public assembly, known as a Loya Jirga, advised him to free the prisoners as part of the landmark deal between the Taliban and the United States aimed at ending two decades of deadly Afghan war.

Afghan security forces have restored order at a prison in Jalalabad after a day-long siege claimed by the region's Islamic State offshoot. At least 10 of the dead were IS militants, a local official said.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani announced his government would soon complete the release of 5,000 Taliban prisoners, thus paving the way for the start of long sought-after peace negotiations with the insurgent group. 

The United Nations says that civilian casualties in conflict-torn Afghanistan have dropped by 13% in the first half of the year, the lowest figure since 2012, attributing it mainly to a scale back in operations by U.S.-led international military forces and Islamic State terrorists.