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.
Germany's Federal Court of Justice ruled that relatives of the victims of a 2009 air-strike in Afghanistan are not entitled to compensation under international law.
The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan condemned an air-strike launched by an unmanned aerial vehicle that struck a civilian home, killing 15 and injuring 13, including a child.
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.
Civilian casualties have reached a record high in the first half of 2016, with 5,166 civilians recorded killed or maimed, the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan reports.
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.
Pakistan and Afghanistan saw deadly border clashes and a tense stand-off over Islamabad's plan to build a barbed-wire separation barrier at its Torkham crossing.
The killing of Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Mansour in a US drone strike actually took place in Pakistan—without consent of Islamabad, signaling a break between the two allies.
