Taliban

The attack on a gathering of the mostly minority Shia community is the latest in an upsurge of sectarian violence in Afghanistan in recent months.

At a conference in Kabul , Ashraf Ghani offered the insurgent group a variety of incentives to come to the negotiating table — including passports, a political office and the release of prisoners.

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Steve Coll warns that there is no end in sight to America's longest war: "Most of the generals ... say in public, 'There's no military solution to this war.'"

As the U.S. sends more troops to Afghanistan and ratchets up airstrikes, a new report from a U.S. military auditor suggests that the war is still at a stalemate.

Three staff members were killed and more than a dozen wounded when gunmen attacked the aid organization. ISIS has claimed responsibility; the Taliban have specifically denied any involvement.

The Pentagon did not immediately explain what kind of combat the service members were engaged in at the time or whether they were fighting ISIS or the Taliban.

An ISIS affiliate managed to emerge in Afghanistan despite the U.S. military's continued presence in the fight against the Taliban. Pakistan also denies the presence of ISIS despite recent attacks.

"Justice is not rescuing Sgt. Bergdahl from his Taliban captors, in the cage where he was for years, only to place him in a cell," said his defense. But prosecutors say he must be held responsible.

Mlitary prosecutors have called on several current and former service members who looked for Bergdahl in the days immediately after he walked away from his post in Afghanistan.

A military judge is allowing the testimony of service members who were injured as a direct result of the searches for Bergdahl, who was captured by the Taliban and held for five years.

The Army judge, Col. Jeffrey Nance, posed the question of whether the sergeant could receive a fair trial after comments made by the president, who has repeatedly called Bergdahl a traitor.

Just two Afghan soldiers at a base in Afghanistan's Kandahar province were left uninjured. At least 43 were killed. This week, more than 120 people were killed by the militant group.