Afghanistan

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.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has drawn up a new proposal for peace with the Taliban ahead of an international conference aimed at jump-starting faltering talks between the two warring sides, official sources said. … According to official sources, Ghani intends to present his three-stage plan at a United Nations-backed conference in Turkey to be attended by the United States, Russia, and other key regional countries. A date for the event has not been finalized.

U.S. intelligence agencies have told the Biden administration that the Taliban could overrun most of Afghanistan within two to three years if U.S. troops leave before a power-sharing deal is reached between the warring sides, a news report said on Friday.

Germany paved the way for its troops to stay in Afghanistan beyond an April 30 deadline that the United States last year agreed with the Taliban for the withdrawal of U.S. forces after nearly two decades of war.