
WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States is open to holding direct talks with the Taliban to encourage negotiations between the militant group and the Afghan government to end 17 years of war, U.S. officials said Monday.…READ MORE

FAISALABAD, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistan is seeing an unprecedented number of extremists and militant sectarian groups — even an international terror figure with a $10 million U.S.-offered bounty on his head — on the campaign trail ahead of parliamentary elections later this month.…READ MORE

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Gunmen shot and killed a senior police special forces commander who was known as a dogged anti-Taliban warrior barely 24 hours before President Ashraf Ghani’s unilateral cease-fire was to end at midnight Friday, the Defense Ministry said.…READ MORE