Afghanistan

China has renewed diplomatic efforts to help facilitate a negotiated end to the conflict in Afghanistan, saying it is ready to hold peace negotiations between warring Afghans.  

Fighting between the Taliban and Afghan government forces resumed Sunday in the restive southern province of Helmand, officials said, ending a three-day ceasefire agreed by the warring sides to mark the Eid al-Fitr holiday.

Afghan officials say Taliban militants captured a district in northern Afghanistan after hours of fighting with government forces amid a recent surge in violence as the United States begins to pull its forces from the war-torn country.

Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan attacked and overran a key army base in southeastern Ghazni province Saturday, capturing dozens of soldiers and killing several others. The latest attack came on a day when the United States and NATO partners formally began withdrawing their militaries from the country after almost 20 years of war.

The top U.S. military commander in Afghanistan says the process of completely removing American troops from the conflict-torn country has already begun.

Germany’s defense ministry on Wednesday said it planned to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan in early July, after the United States announced plans to pull out by September 11. “The current thinking… is to shorten the withdrawal period. A withdrawal date of July 4 is being considered,” a ministry spokesman told AFP, stressing that the final decision would be made by NATO. NATO had agreed last week to begin their troop drawdown by May 1.

The international conference, deemed essential for war-torn country’s future amid escalating violence, now to be held after Ramadan.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken carried American assurances to Afghanistan during an unannounced visit Thursday to discuss the coming withdrawal of all 2,500 U.S. troops by September 11. … On Wednesday, NATO announced it was also withdrawing its 7,000 troops from the country, saying they would be leaving over the next months. Biden made his announcement in a televised speech Wednesday, saying the war "was never meant to be a multigenerational undertaking.”

Extraordinary levels of harm inflicted on civilians in the Afghan conflict continues unabated, with UNAMA finding that the number of civilians killed and injured during the first three months of 2021 to be significantly higher than a year ago. Released today, the Afghanistan Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict 2021 First Quarter Report documents 1,783 civilian casualties (573 killed and 1,210 injured), a 29 per cent increase compared with the same period in 2020.

The UN together with Turkey, and Qatar, announced on Tuesday that a high-level conference aimed at ending decades of conflict in Afghanistan will go ahead beginning on 24 April, bringing together representatives of both the Afghan Government and the Taliban.