Taliban

The Taliban are taking back territory in both northern and southern Afghanistan. Amidst the fighting, a Kunduz hospital attacked by the U.S. one year ago is planning to reopen.

The attacks came at a time when Afghanistan was under harsh Taliban rule, isolated from the world and on the verge of famine. Reporter Hannah Bloch, who was in Kabul on Sept. 11, recalls the day.

The blast struck near the Defense Ministry in the Afghan capital. Reporter Jennifer Glasse says that, according to witnesses, the second explosion targeted those aiding victims of the first.

The service member was on a training mission when a roadside bomb went off Tuesday near the provincial capital, Lashkar Gah. It is the second U.S. combat death in Afghanistan since January.

At one point, President Obama had plans to essentially end the longest war in U.S. history. Over the past two years, Obama has changed those plans.

Two suicide bombers struck a convoy of buses carrying recently-graduated Afghan police cadets, according to wire service reports. The Taliban has claimed responsibility.

The president has authorized U.S. commanders to use airstrikes to assist Afghan offensives — not just as defensive or preventive measures.

The Taliban have kept up a drumbeat of attacks since their leader was killed last month in a U.S. drone strike. Hopes that a new leader might improve the climate for peace are fading fast.

The NPR photographer kept heading back to the front lines in Afghanistan to gauge how the Afghan military was faring against the Taliban. It's a story that has largely been ignored.

Afghan commandos, supported by U.S. special operations forces, launched a raid into a village contested by the Taliban. The raid permitted an aid convoy to make progress after nearly a month.

The Afghan Taliban confirmed that a U.S. drone strike killed their leader last week, and they announced his successor: Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada, an extremist scholar without military experience.

The Pentagon says it is assessing the results of its attack on Mullah Akhtar Mansour. The man was a divisive figure within the Taliban, and the Afghan government saw him as an obstacle to peace.