Afghanistan

As leaders of the deeply unpopular and fractured national-unity government, both men's reputations have been tarnished. But with no viable challengers, they are front-runners in an election that features former mujahedin fighters, warlords, and communists.

The Taliban have told the BBC that their "doors are open" should US President Donald Trump want to resume peace talks in the future. Chief negotiator Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai insisted negotiation remained "the only way for peace in Afghanistan" during an exclusive interview. Mr Stanikzai's words came a week after Mr Trump declared the talks "dead".

The UN Security Council has unanimously extended its assistance mission in Afghanistan after China withdrew its threat of a veto if the text did not mention Beijing's Belt and Road infrastructure initiative. The 15 members of the council on September 17 extended the mission for one year with a compromise text, negotiated by Germany and Indonesia, that doesn't mention "any specific initiative" but refers to promotion of "regional cooperation and connectivity," according to diplomats.

An Afghan health official says 24 people were killed Tuesday in a bombing attack near the site of an election rally held by President Ashraf Ghani.

A spokesman for Afghanistan’s President Ashraf Ghani says the Afghan government will only consider making a "legitimate" peace with the Taliban after a national election in September, despite political uncertainty following the recent collapse of U.S.-Taliban peace talks.

As negotiations between the U.S. and Taliban collapsed this week, the top U.N. official in Afghanistan called Tuesday for direct intra-Afghan talks to resolve the country’s nearly two-decade old conflict. “Conflict can only be resolved by direct talks between the Afghan people,” U.N. envoy to Afghanistan Tadamichi Yamamoto told a meeting of the Security Council. “It is imperative, therefore, that direct talks between the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and the Taliban commence as soon as possible.”

U.S. President Donald Trump is denying he overruled Vice President Mike Pence and other administration officials about hosting the Taliban at Camp David for peace talks. "I took my own advice," Trump told reporters Monday. "We had a meeting scheduled. It was my idea, and it was my idea to terminate it. I didn't discuss it with anybody else."

An explosion in the Afghan capital has killed several civilians and wounded dozens. The attack came after a US envoy briefed the government on a draft deal that would see thousands of US troops leave the country.

In the wake of a surge in violence across Afghanistan over the past week, the country’s top UN envoy has pleaded for an end to the fighting through a negotiated peace settlement, and an end to the “indescribable loss” suffered by victims’ loved ones.

Nine former U.S. ambassadors have warned that Afghanistan could collapse in a "total civil war" if the United States withdraws its forces before a "real" peace deal involving the Kabul government is reached with the Taliban.