Taliban

An errant U.S. airstrike confirmed by the Pentagon killed 12 Afghan National Police officers and wounded two others, as another 11 police were killed and six wounded in clashes with the Taliban, Afghan officials said on July 22.

The people of war-torn Afghanistan continue to bear the brunt of the grinding conflict with civilian deaths at their worst since records began, the United Nations said on July 17.

Deaths in the capital Kabul accounted for nearly 20 percent of the toll, according to the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) report, which covers the first half of the year.

The military base at Kandahar Airport, Afghanistan, was once again undergoing a missile attack. The incident happened last night at 22:01 local time, the Ministry of Defense reported. Fortunately, no one of the Bulgarian soldiers there was injured, the office said.

NATO will increase troop numbers in Afghanistan to help train local forces facing a resurgent Taliban but will not return to a combat role, Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on June 29.

The alliance ended its longest-ever military operation in 2014 when it handed over post-9/11 frontline duties to the Afghan military and took on an advice and training mission.

Taliban gunmen have killed eight Afghan guards working at the largest American base in Afghanistan, officials said yesterday, as the U.S. appears set to boost its troop presence in the country.

The guards were ambushed near Bagram base north of Kabul as they were driving home in a convoy late June 19, said district governor Abdul Shakoor Quddusi.

Dozens of people were killed or wounded when as many as five suicide bombers attacked a police headquarters in eastern Afghanistan on June 18, officials said.

Photo: AP

U.S. President Donald Trump has given Defense Secretary Jim Mattis the authority to set troop levels in Afghanistan, a U.S. official said late Tuesday.

This could mean a boost in the number of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, where 16 years of fighting against the Taliban and other militants has resulted in a stalemate.

Wednesday's deadly bomb blast in the Afghan capital, Kabul, which killed at least 80 people, caused material damage to the nearby Bulgarian embassy, Sofia said in a statement.

"The local authorities have closed off the region. The circumstances are to be clarified," the foreign ministry added, explaining that there is no proof that the diplomatic mission was targeted.

The death toll in a huge explosion that rocked Kabul's business district has risen to 80 killed and 340 injured, Afghanistan's Public Heath Ministry has said.

The damage is believed to have been caused by a powerful car bomb deployed during rush hour on Wednesday morning, officials said. 

There has been no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack. 

The primary US objective during the 2003 invasion of Iraq was not bringing democracy to the Middle Eastern country, but to oust Saddam Hussein, touted as "a threat to the region," says a secretary of state under President George W. Bush.