Abdullah Abdullah
Delegates wearing a protective face masks to help curb the spread of the coronavirus attend an Afghan Loya Jirga meeting in Kabul, Afghanistan, Friday, Aug. 7, 2020. The traditional council opened Friday in the Afghan capital to decide the release of a final 400 Taliban - the last hurdle to the start of negotiations between Kabul’s political leadership and the Taliban in keeping with a peace deal the United States signed with the insurgent movement in February. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)
Traditional Afghan council meets on release of 400 Taliban

By Tameem Akhgar And Kathy Gannon Aug. 07, 2020 03:53 AM EDT

FILE - In this May 3, 2019 file photo, delegates attend the last day of the Afghan Loya Jirga meeting in Kabul, Afghanistan. Afghan officials said a traditional consultative council or Loya Jirga will convene Friday, Aug. 7, 2020, to decide whether the last 400 Taliban prisoners will be released as part of a peace agreement, even as its Health Ministry says half of Kabul’s residents are infected with the coronavirus. The Taliban have rejected any changes to the deal they signed in February with the U.S. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul, File)
Afghan council to decide whether Kabul releases 400 Taliban

By Tameem Akhgar And Kathy Gannon Aug. 06, 2020 07:11 AM EDT

FILE - In this Feb. 29, 2020 file photo, U.S. peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad, left, and Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Taliban group's top political leader sign a peace agreement between Taliban and U.S. officials in Doha, Qatar. Washington's annual terrorism report says Pakistan is doing too little to counter terrorist groups particularly those taking aim at enemy India as well as the dreaded Haqqani network operating in Afghanistan. Islamabad bristled at the criticism saying it has been relentless in its assistance to Washington as it be negotiated for more than a year with the Taliban for a peace deal signed on Feb. 29(AP Photo/Hussein Sayed,file)
US envoy forges ahead with troubled Taliban peace deal

By Kathy Gannon Jul. 04, 2020 06:17 AM EDT

In this Monday, May 18, 2020 photo, a relative of a patient covers himself with a plastic sheet as he waits for his relative outside the Afghan-Japan Communicable Disease Hospital, Kabul’s main facility for coronavirus testing and treatment, in Kabul, Afghanistan. After 20 years and billions of dollars in international money, much of it from the U.S., the Afghan capital hardly has a hospital that works, with coronavirus tests lost, misread and misunderstood. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)
Without test results, virus raced through an Afghan family

By Tameem Akhgar, Rahim Faiez And Lee Keath May. 27, 2020 02:21 AM EDT

In this Wednesday, May 20, 2020 photo, members of the Aryubi family walk to a graveyard where Dr. Yousuf Aryubi and two siblings who lost their lives to COVID-19 are buried, in Kabul, Afghanistan. Dr. Aryubi's family assumed they just had a bad cold, as one after another, they came down with fevers and coughs -- all because one of the Afghan capital's main hospitals never told them the results of his coronavirus test. Their tragedy points to how a broken-down health system, slow government response and public attitudes have left Afghanistan deeply vulnerable to the global pandemic. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)
With test results lost, an Afghan family fell to virus

By Tameem Akhgar, Rahim Faiez And Lee Keath May. 27, 2020 02:11 AM EDT

FILE - In this Feb. 29, 2020 file photo, U.S. peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad, left, and Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Taliban group's top political leader shake hands after signing a peace agreement between Taliban and U.S. officials in Doha, Qatar. An Afghan official said Thursday, May 14, 2020, that a suicide attack in eastern Afghanistan targeted a military compound but was detonated before it reached the compound killing several civilians and wounding tens of others. The Taliban took responsibility for the bombing calling it retaliation for statements Tuesday by President Ashraf Ghani blaming Taliban for a brutal attack on a maternity hospital that killed tens of people, an attack that the Taliban were quick to condemn. (AP Photo/Hussein Sayed, File)
Official says suicide attack in eastern Afghanistan kills 5

By Tameem Akhgar And Kathy Gannon May. 14, 2020 06:47 AM EDT

FILE - In this March 9, 2020, file photo, Washington's peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad attends the inauguration ceremony for Afghan President Ashraf Ghani at the presidential palace in Kabul, Afghanistan. Khalilzad said May 7 that he called for the release of Mark R. Frerichs, ab American citizen captured by Taliban-linked militants in discussions with Taliban leadership as continued violence threatens to scuttle a peace deal to end America’s longest-running war. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul, File)
Afghanistan envoy calls for American contractor release

By James Laporta May. 07, 2020 10:57 PM EDT

Mark Frerichs, a contractor from Illinois, poses in Iraq in this undated photo obtained from Twitter that he would include with his resume when job hunting. Frerichs was abducted in Afghanistan in January 2020. Early efforts to locate him have been shrouded in mystery and his disappearance has been the subject of minimal public discussion by the U.S. government. The Associated Press has learned that in the days following Frerichs’ capture, Navy commandos raided a village and detained suspected members of the Taliban-linked Haqqani network while the U.S. intelligence community tried to track the cellphones of Frerich and his captors. (Twitter via AP)
SEALs tried to locate US citizen taken by Afghan militants

By James Laporta And Eric Tucker Apr. 30, 2020 12:07 AM EDT

Afghan special forces stand guard near the site of a suicide bomber attack on the outskirts of Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday, April 29, 2020. A suicide bomber on Wednesday targeted a base belonging to Afghan special forces on the southern outskirts of the capital, Kabul, officials said. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)
Afghan officials: Suicide bomber kills 3 civilians in Kabul

By Rahim Faiez Apr. 29, 2020 03:57 AM EDT

Muslim men read the Quran during the first day of the holy fasting month of Ramadan at a mosque in Kabul, Afghanistan, Friday, April 24, 2020. Millions of Muslims have started the holiest month on the Islamic calendar under the coronavirus lockdown or strict social restrictions, deepening their anxiety over the disease. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)
US calls on Afghans to set aside disputes, focus on virus

By Kathy Gannon Apr. 26, 2020 05:20 AM EDT