The Guardian: A bomb attached to the vehicle of a former presenter on Afghanistan’s Tolo TV has exploded, killing the journalist and two other civilians, Kabul police have said. The death of Yama Siawash is being investigated after the explosion on Saturday, said police spokesman Ferdaws Faramarz. No one has immediately claimed responsibility. Full story ...

The Guardian: At least 22 people were killed and 22 wounded after Islamic State-affiliated gunmen stormed Kabul University as it was hosting a book fair attended by Iran’s ambassador to Afghanistan, taking hostages and fighting gun battles with security forces for more than five hours. The Afghan government has declared Tuesday a national day of mourning following the attack. Full story ...

The New York Times: KABUL, Afghanistan — A deadly explosion struck a tutoring center in Kabul on Saturday, puncturing a relatively peaceful period in the Afghan capital even as violence has spiraled upward in the countryside. Tariq Arian, a spokesman for the Afghan interior ministry, said at least 24 people were killed and 57 others wounded in the attack. He said the explosion happened in an alley leading to an educational center called Kawsar-e Danish. Full story ...

Foreign Policy: KABUL—Each year, as winter closes in on Afghanistan’s rugged mountainous region, Mohammad Bilal, a 45-year-old coal worker, readies himself for a busy few months. As temperatures drop, and without better sources for heat, the demand for coal will soar.This year, Bilal, who requested to go by a pseudonym for his safety, expects the winter months to be stressful for a different reason. Full story ...

Aljazeera: At least 15 people have been killed and more than 40 wounded in a suicide car bomb attack that targeted a government building in the eastern Afghan province of nangarhar, officials said.There were fears that the death toll could rise after the explosion on Saturday at the entrance of an administrative building that also housed some military facilities in the Ghani Khel district. Full story ...

Aljazeera: At least 57 members of the Afghan security forces were killed and dozens injured in overnight clashes with Taliban fighters across Afghanistan in the bloodiest day of fighting since the government and the armed group began peace talks in Qatar more than a week ago.Sunday night's clashes were in the central province of Uruzgan, where 24 members of the Afghan security forces were killed when Taliban fighters attacked security checkpoints, Deputy Governor of the province Sayed Mohammad Sadat said. Full story ...

ARAB NEWS: LONDON/KABUL: Born in exile, she died in exile. But during the 10 controversial years she spent as queen of Afghanistan, Soraya Tarzi gave the women of her country a tantalizing glimpse of an emancipated future which, a century on, has yet to be fully realized. Full story ...

The Guardian: Khoja Zada found his son around noon; his body was under layers of rubble and mud. The rain had stopped and the sun was shining again when the 70-year-old dug him out. At midnight, he buried him again. Less than a week after flash floods killed at least 116 people – including Zada’s 35-year-old son – and injured 120 more in Charikar, the capital of Afghanistan’ Full story ...

CNN: Kabul, Afghanistan: Flash flooding in Afghanistan's Parwan province has killed at least 86 people and injured at least 106, according to Rahmatullah Haidari, deputy spokesman for the governor of the province. Officials in in the disaster management ministry said that torrential rain earlier this week triggered flash flooding in the country's Parwan province -- which borders Kabul -- Reuters news agency reported. Full story ...

The Christian Science Monitor: When, to kick-start long-delayed intra-Afghan peace talks, thousands of Afghan delegates gathered to consider a final release of hardened Taliban prisoners, Belquis Roshan held up a sign of protest. The words on the female lawmaker’s banner were clear: “Redeeming” the Taliban amounted to “national treason.” Full story ...

The American Conservative: Amere five months late, negotiations between the Taliban and the government of Afghanistan are set to begin soon—well, probably.The talks were delayed by Kabul’s slow decision to release a group of 400 Taliban prisoners whose freedom, as part of a larger prisoner exchange, was a condition set by prior agreement between the Taliban and the United States. That decision was finally announced Sunday, and the next round of diplomacy is expected to begin within a week of the forthcoming release. Full story ...

Tolo News: Some delegates of the Loya Jirga, the grand assembly, who said they were faced with “violent” treatment during the last two days of the event, on Sunday called for the incidents to be addressed. They blamed the organizers of the Jirga for silencing voices of protest during the event. Two incidents that were filmed or photographed by some delegates happened on the first day o Full story ...

NDTV: An Afghan girl who shot dead two Taliban fighters after they gunned down her parents said she was ready to confront any other insurgents who might try to attack her. Qamar Gul, 15, killed the militants when they stormed her home last week in a remote village in the central province of Ghor. Full story ...

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: The Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) says that on average 16 civilians have been killed or wounded every day across the country in the first half of 2020. A total of 1,213 civilians have been killed and 1,744 others wounded in 880 separate security incidents during the first six months of the year, according to the AIHRC’s report on civ Full story ...

(Pajhwok): The Afghanistan Embassy in the United States has reconstructed its boundary wall measuring 70 meters at a cost of around 1,825,839 US dollars after its reconstruction for $88,000 was rejected by the embassy, Pajhwok has learnt. According to information, the wall has been built 20.74 times higher cost than the initial company proposed and each meter-square cost 8,694 US dollars. Full story ...

The Guardian: Millions of people are being pushed towards hunger by the coronavirus pandemic, which could end up killing more people through lack of food than from the illness itself, Oxfam has warned.Closed borders, curfews and travel restrictions have disrupted food supplies and incomes in already fragile countries, forcing an extra million people closer to famine in Afghanistan and heightening the humanitarian disaster in Yemen, where two-thirds already live in hunger. Full story ...

The National: The economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic is pushing Afghan children into early marriage or labour work and away from education. Few children in Afghanistan have suffered severe coronavirus-related health issues, but pandemic-induced economic hardships expose families to inequalities that many richer countries don’t face. Full story ...