Afghanistan

With over 3,800 civilian women, children and men killed in just one year, Afghanistan has hit yet another “deeply disturbing and wholly unacceptable” record, according to a new report issued on Sunday by the UN political mission in the country (UNAMA) and the UN human rights office (OHCHR).

Afghan politicians and tribal, ethnic, and religious leaders are set to meet for at least four days next month to discuss negotiations with the Taliban, President Ashraf Ghani's special peace envoy has said.

A prominent Afghan political leader who once had the support of some officials to lead Afghanistan's negotiating team with the Taliban, warned the president Wednesday against squandering the best opportunity at peace in more than 17 years of war.

Even before any peace push-related drawdowns, the US military is expected to trim troop levels in Afghanistan as part of an efficiency drive by the new commander, a US general said, estimating the cuts may exceed 1,000 forces.

The ministers are discussing how best to use NATO's presence in Afghanistan through its Resolute Support mission to support talks with the Taliban aimed at ending the 17-year conflict.

The Afghan government on Tuesday fired its election commission more than three months after chaotic parliamentary elections — the results of which have still not been announced — and ahead of July’s controversial presidential vote.

The Taliban has yet to make concessions on two key U.S. demands -- implementing a cease-fire and agreeing to negotiate directly with Afghan government representatives as part of an Afghan-led, intra-Afghan peace process.

After two days of talks in Moscow, the Taliban and prominent Afghan politicians, many of them former enemies, said on Wednesday that they had charted a broad road map for ending the war in Afghanistan, which is in its 18th year. It is structured around the withdrawal of American forces from the country and the Taliban’s commitment to citizens’ fundamental rights. … The meeting, at the Kremlin-owned President Hotel, was the first significant public contact between the Taliban and prominent Afghans in years, with the Islamist insurgents presenting more detail on some of their positions, including on women’s rights.

Taliban representatives will meet influential Afghan opposition leaders in Moscow for two days of peace building discussions starting Tuesday, but envoys from the Kabul government will not be in attendance. The controversial meeting, critics say, underscores a deepening political divide in Afghanistan and would further weaken President Ashraf Ghani’s National Unity government.

The United States and the Taliban have sketched the outlines for an eventual peace accord to end 17 years of war in Afghanistan, a U.S. special envoy said on Monday, but there was no sign the insurgent group had accepted key U.S. demands. "We have a draft of the framework that has to be fleshed out before it becomes an agreement," U.S. special peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad told the New York Times in an interview in Kabul after six days of talks with the Taliban. … There was no sign, however, that the Taliban had agreed to U.S. demands such as committing to a ceasefire before the withdrawal of U.S. troops or that it engage in direct talks with the U.S.-backed government in Kabul, analysts said.