Former commander of US forces in Afghanistan, General David Petraeus, in a joint article with Vance Serchuk, an adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, published an op-ed in the Washington Post on November 14 claiming that the Taliban have “strong” links with Al-Qaeda, and recommended that any peace deal with the insurgent group should require their “unequivocal break with international terrorism.”

The Presidential Candidate Council (CPC) on Friday sent a letter to the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) saying that the UN mission did not maintain its neutrality when it sent a letter to the Independent Election Commission to complain about the behavior of election commissioner Maulana Mohammed Abdullah.