Afghanistan War News Updates -- March 20, 2017

VOA: IS Taking New Strategy in Afghanistan

ISLAMABAD — The attack in Kabul that killed at least 30 people this week, claimed by the Islamic State militants, was different in strategy from the group’s past assaults.

Those, like the one on a Shi'ite Hazara minority group protest in Kabul last year, had been simpler. Large public gatherings are easy targets for a suicide bomber.

An attack on a military hospital in a city like Kabul, where security is so tight one cannot get into a shopping mall without going through metal detectors, requires complex reconnaissance and pre-planning. It pointed to the group’s ability to carry out a sophisticated, intelligence-driven operation, according to Barnett Rubin, associate director of the Center on International Cooperation.

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Afghanistan War News Updates -- March 20, 2017

Daesh and Taliban are not opposed to each other, says Hanif Atmar, Afghan NSA -- Times of India
Taliban's new look: 'National defender of Afghan sovereignty against ISIS' -- RT
ISIS Claims Kabul Hospital Attack But Taliban Remains Main Threat -- NBC
ISIS release pictures of terrorists involved in Kabul military

hospital attack -- Khaama Press
20 Taliban militants killed in foreign forces airstrike in Kandahar -- Khaama Press
Head of Central Command says US will have to send MORE troops back to Afghanistan to break stalemate between government and the Taliban -- Daily Mail
US Afghanistan Strategy Will Require Moore Troops, Says General -- Newsweek
Top U.S. General Says More U.S. Ground Troops Needed In Afghanistan -- RFE
U.S. strategy in Afghanistan will require more troops - general -- Reuters
Pakistan says it closed Afghan border to avoid more attacks -- AP
Pakistan Closes Border With Afghanistan After Temporary Opening -- RFE
Border closure is hurting Afghanistan and Pakistan -- Mehmood Jan Babar, GEO TV
China hosts Afghan Taliban delegation, conveys a strong message “Talks are the only option for them” -- Financial Express
Afghan Taliban’s political negotiators visit China -- Express Tribune
Afghanistan's Ambassador On The Future Of The War -- NPR
Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the 'Good Taliban' -- The Diplomat
ANALYSIS: After deadly ISIS attack, will Trump send more US troops to Afghanistan? -- Conor Finnegan, ABC News