In Afghanistan

After a series of delays, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani issued a decree early on March 11 promising to release 1,500 Taliban prisoners as a goodwill gesture to get intra-Afghan negotiations started.

A recent peace deal signed between the United States and the Taliban called for the release of up to 5,000 prisoners ahead of the much sought-after negotiations.

ISIL opened fire at a ceremony in Kabul on March 6, killing at least 32 people in the first major attack in the city since the United States reached an agreement with the Afghan Taliban on a phased withdrawal of U.S. troops.

A top Afghan political leader, Abdullah Abdullah, was present along with other key political figures and escaped unharmed.

The Taliban will not negotiate with the government in Kabul until about 5,000 of their associates are released from Afghan prisons, said a Taliban spokesman, quoted by the Associated Press. The statement was made at a time when the deadline for reducing hostilities in Afghanistan is expiring.

A temporary truce between the United States and the Taliban took effect on Feb. 21, setting the stage for the two sides to sign a peace deal next week aimed at ending 18 years of war in Afghanistan and bringing U.S. troops home.

The United States and the Taliban have agreed to a temporary truce that, if successful, would open the way for a deal that would bring American troops home from Afghanistan and end 18 years of war.

The plane which crashed in Afghanistan may turn out to be military, not passenger. The mystery is compounded after local authorities said it was not a civilian flight. Earlier, the country's national airline, Ariana Afgan Airlines, denied that the machine was their property.

Snowfall, rain and floods in parts of Afghanistan and Pakistan have killed 43 people, the Associated Press reported.

The U.S. is planning to withdraw some 4,000 U.S. troops from Afghanistan, Voice of America reported, citing Afghan officials.

An early morning car bombing killed at least seven people in the Afghan capital Kabul, an official confirmed on Nov. 13

Turkey has always played a constructive and key role in NATO's Afghanistan mission since 2003, the alliance's senior representative to Kabul, Sir Nicholas Kay, said in an interview with Hürriyet Daily News at the NATO headquarters in Brussels.