Election commission declares incumbent Ashraf Ghani winner of disputed presidential election held almost five months ago, but rivals say commission and outcome "have no legitimacy."
The negotiations appear to give the Taliban some degree of political legitimacy in Afghanistan following the complete withdrawal of US forces and in exchange the insurgent group is expected to stop harbouring 'terrorists'.
An escalated conflict between the US and Iran will reverberate in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Afghans are waiting for the outcome of endless meetings between the United States and the Taliban.
US President Donald Trump said last month that he planned to reduce the overall troop presence to 8,600, with further reductions possible. Approximately 13,000 US troops are currently in Afghanistan.
A hasty peace deal that undermined the Afghan government and rewarded the Taliban's arrogant zero-sum game was always doomed for failure. All that can be changed moving forward.
Afghan Interior Ministry spokesman says that the Taliban singled out 45 old men from a funeral procession carrying the deceased employee's coffin to a graveyard.
While US peace envoy Khalilzad is talking to the Taliban about reducing violence, the US military says its air strikes killed 37 Taliban and operations by the Afghan National Security Forces killed another 22 of the militants.
Taliban representatives said the militant group released three Indian engineers they had held captive. No confirmation from New Delhi and Afghan government as yet.
Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi met a Taliban delegation visiting Islamabad. Both parties urged the US to resume peace talks after US President Donald Trump halted negotiations with the group last month.
US President Donald Trump says peace talks with Taliban leaders are off and he was still thinking about a troop drawdown from Afghanistan.
Zalmay Khalilzad, who is leading efforts to forge a deal with the Taliban, made the announcement after meeting Afghanistan's President Ghani who asked the US envoy to share the draft agreement between the US and Taliban with all Afghan leaders.
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