Kabul

The U.S. Defense Department said on Oct. 15 that it is committed to offering condolence payments to relatives of the 10 people who were killed in an errant U.S. drone strike in Kabul, Afghanistan, in August.

Turkey has proposed the establishment of a special working group at the G20 to address the Afghanistan-related issues and warned the international community that Afghan people cannot be left to their fate.

At least 12 people were killed and 32 injured in an explosion near the Id Gah mosque in Kabul, where a farewell ceremony is taking place for the mother of Zabihullah Mujahid, a representative of the radical Taliban that seized power in the country, Al-Jazeera TV reported on Sunday, citing a source in the Afghani security service.

Turkey conveyed its condolences after a deadly blast on Oct. 3 at a mosque in the Afghan capital.

At least eight people were killed and 20 others wounded when a bomb went off near the entrance of the Eidgah Mosque in Kabul.

Turkey's ambassador to Afghanistan met the Taliban's acting deputy prime minister and assured of strengthening bilateral ties between Kabul and Ankara, an official statement said on Sept. 29. 

The top U.S. military officer called the 20-year war in Afghanistan a "strategic failure" and acknowledged to Congress that he had favored keeping several thousand troops in the country to prevent a collapse of the U.S.-supported Kabul government and a rapid takeover by the Taliban.

A prominent leader of the Taliban has said the group will reintroduce punishments such as amputations and executions for criminals, though perhaps not publicly.

One of the founders of the Taliban and the chief enforcer of its harsh interpretation of Islamic law when they last ruled Afghanistan said the hard-line movement will once again carry out executions and amputations of hands, though perhaps not in public.

The international community should continue to engage with Afghanistan, Turkey's foreign minister said on Sept. 22. 

Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu and his counterparts exchanged opinions on irregular migration and the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan as part of a virtual G20 foreign ministers meeting hosted by the Italian chair of the intergovernmental forum.

Ahead of a one-on-one meeting on Sept. 21 on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly, the U.S. and Turkey's top diplomats said they would continue to work on Afghanistan.