An Afghan woman immortalised on a celebrated National Geographic magazine cover as a green-eyed 12-year-old girl was arrested Wednesday for living in Pakistan on fraudulent identity papers.
Militants linked to Islamic State jihadists killed around 30 civilians, including children, in central Afghanistan, officials said Wednesday, raising concerns about the group's expanding presence beyond its eastern strongholds.
The Taliban has denied a news report that it recently restarted peace talks with the Afghan government.
More than 350,000 Afghan refugees have returned to their war-torn homeland from Pakistan this year, UN data show, with the torrent of people crossing the border expected to continue.
At least 14 Shias were killed on Wednesday in a powerful blast at a mosque in northern Afghanistan, the second deadly attack on the minority in as many days during the major festival of Ashura.
Gunmen targeted Shia pilgrims in Kabul late on Tuesday, killing at least 14 people as they gathered to celebrate Ashura, one of the most important festivals on the Shia calendar, officials said.
The number of war-displaced civilians in Kunduz has more than doubled to 24,000, the UN said on Sunday, as street battles persisted a week after the Taliban stormed into the northern Afghan city.
Taliban militants in the past days have kidnapped more than 100 travelers in two Afghan provinces.
The Taliban should look at the example of a deal between the Afghan government and militant commander Gulbuddin Hekmatyar as a path to an "honorable" peace in Afghanistan, US Secretary of State John Kerry said.
More than 200,000 Afghan refugees have been repatriated from Pakistan this year, nearly half of them in September alone, UNHCR said Tuesday, the highest number since 2002, after the fall of the Taliban regime.
Afghan forces were conducting clearing operations in Kunduz early Tuesday, warning that Taliban militants were hiding in civilian homes after an hours-long assault on the city repelled with the help of Nato air support.
Taliban fighters attacked the northern Afghan city of Kunduz overnight, entering urban areas and threatening a repeat of the assault in which they seized the city exactly a year ago.
