The "Kabul Process" peace talks opened in Afghanistan's capital—but with no representatives from the Taliban or other insurgent groups, and practically no presence of Afghan women.
The Haqqani Network is believed to be behind the massive car-bomb explosion in Kabul's diplomatic district, which has raised new calls for thousands more US troops to be deployed.
Three years after withdrawing, US Marines are returning to Afghanistan's Helmand province to help beat back a new Taliban offensive funded by a bumper opium harvest.
The US dropped its most powerful non-nuclear weapon, the GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast Bomb, on an area of eastern Afghanistan said to be controlled by ISIS militants.
The US commander in Afghanistan told lawmakers he needs several thousand more troops to break "a stalemate" with the Taliban and other insurgents.
The Afghan government controls less than 60% of the country's territory, with security forces retreating from many areas last year, a US oversight agency reports.
With Afghanistan's opium crop breaking all records, a three-way war is developing over the cultivation zones, as government forces, the Taliban and ISIS battle for control.
The local ISIS franchise claimed responsibility for a blast at a Sufi shrine in Pakistan's Balochistan region that killed 60 worshipers and injured more than 100.
ISIS militants opened fire on Hazara Shi'ite worshipers celebrating Ashura at shrines in Kabul and Balkh, leaving nearly 50 dead and scores more wounded.
Gulbuddin Hekmatyar has gone from being a CIA-approved Mujahedeen commander to an officially designated "global terrorist" to a partner with the US-backed Kabul regime.
Lawyers went on strike and journalists staged demonstrations after scores were slain in a Taliban terror attack on a hospital in Quetta, capital of restive Balochistan province.
ISIS claimed responsibility for twin suicide blasts that killed at least 80 and wounded 230 Shi'ite Hazaras who were gathered in Kabul for a protest demonstration.
