Above: Afghanistan Damaged ambulances in Qalat, from BBC
Note: The never-ending war in Afghanistan which began with the US invasion on October 7, 2001, continues. BBC is not one of our favored sources of information but this series of articles summarized below presents images of this war that is forgotten on the pages of corporate, mainstream media in the US. It is time for the US to leave Afghanistan. This is a war the US has lost and cannot win. The US has created chaos and killing for an objective that is no longer valid since Osama bin Laden was killed years ago. The US should never relied on war for the 9/11 attack. There are international criminal courts where that crime should have been investigated and prosecuted. The opportunity for negotiation is passed. Now is the time for a rapid, orderly exit. KZ
Afghanistan war: Taliban tell Trump their ‘doors are open’
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”.
Earlier this month, the two sides had appeared close to a deal to end the 18-year conflict.
Mr. Trump had even invited senior Taliban leaders and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani to meet at Camp David on 8 September.
But a Taliban attack in the Afghan capital Kabul on 6 September, which killed a US soldier and 11 others, prompted Mr Trump to pull out, saying the group “probably don’t have the power to negotiate” if they were unable to agree to a ceasefire during talks.
Inside Afghanistan’s ‘no-man’s land’
Earlier this year the UN released data showing that more civilians were killed by allies than insurgents in Afghanistan.
The BBC has gained incredibly rare access to Taliban-controlled territory, in Faryab province, to meet those civilians most at risk.
A Month Of Killing: Tracking the killings in August 2019
An average of 74 men, women and children were killed every day in Afghanistan throughout the month of August, the BBC has found.
The findings show unrelenting violence affects almost the entire country as US negotiations to withdraw after 18 years of war are in disarray.
We confirmed 611 security incidents in which 2,307 people died.
Both the Taliban and the Afghan government have questioned the validity of the casualty figures identified by the BBC.
Most people killed were combatants – including more Taliban fighters than expected – but a fifth were civilians.
A further 1,948 people were injured.
The casualty toll is just a snapshot of the situation on the ground in Afghanistan. However, it paints a bleak image as US President Donald Trump looks to fulfill a key foreign policy aim and withdraw American troops.
Afghanistan conflict: The young face of a brutal war
BBC released new research on the conflict in Afghanistan – tracing every conflict-related death in the month of August.
According to the data that was gathered, on average, more than a dozen civilians died every day.
The BBC spent a month visiting one of the country’s busiest hospitals in the southern city of Kandahar.
Afghan peace deal: Trump says Taliban talks are ‘dead’
US President Donald Trump says talks with the Taliban aimed at ending the 18-year war in Afghanistan are “dead”.
“As far as I’m concerned, they are dead,” he told White House reporters on Monday.
Over the weekend Mr. Trump canceled secret plans to host a Taliban delegation in the US after the militant group admitted killing a US soldier.
The two sides had appeared close to a deal and the Taliban said the US would “lose the most” for canceling talks.
The US president has made withdrawing US troops from Afghanistan a key foreign policy aim, but asked about the 14,000 US troops still there he said: “We’d like to get out but we’ll get out at the right time.”
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