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Afghanistan lays framework for possible peace with Taliban

The draft peace deal Afghanistan leaders signed with warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar is the country's first peace agreement since the Taliban launched their insurgency in 2001.
Airstrike kills five in international mobile medical team in northern Syria

The Paris-based International Union of Medical Care and Relief Organizations (UOSSM) said the attack Tuesday night leveled a mobile medical unit near Aleppo. The attack follows a Monday night airstrike on a Syrian Arab Red Crescent aid convoy.
USA Update Court papers: Suspect vowed 'bombs will be heard' in streets

Following similar domestic terror attacks, the disclosure that the FBI investigated Ahmad Khan Rahami in 2014 raises questions about when and how law enforcement investigates potential terrorists.
Al Qaeda bombmaker says Saudi 'royal' helped recruit him prior to 9/11 attack

Ghassan Abdallah al-Sharbi's statement adds to a list of suggestive but hardly definitive clues about possible involvement by members of the Saudi establishment in the Sept. 11 attacks, in which 17 of the 19 hijackers were Saudi.
Syria ceasefire: Will humanitarian aid reach people?

A number of physical, political, and bureaucratic roadblocks have prevented food, medical items, and other necessities from reaching civilians in besieged zones during the seven-day truce.
The Monitor's View Syrian truce’s first goal: aiding civilians

A fragile truce in a brutal war was driven in large part by humanitarian concerns. That aim must remain, amid other motives, to help heal a broken Syria.
Syrian cease-fire: US, Russian leverage with warring sides faces severe test

The US-Russian cease-fire deal is threatened by deep hostility and mistrust between Syrian rebels and the regime, as well as a perception that the deal is weighted in favor of Assad.
Syria ceasefire takes effect with Assad emboldened, opposition wary

Rebel groups fighting to topple President Bashar al-Assad issued a joint statement listing deep reservations with the agreement they described as unjust.
Syrian rebels prepared to accept cease-fire

The peace deal, brokered by the US and Russia, would see those nations take over airstrikes on militants in one week.
At Pentagon, Obama highlights diversity on 9/11 anniversary

The president specifically called out extremist groups as trying to divide the country along racial or religious lines.
US-Russia truce in Syria: What they agreed to do

Russia and the US agreed to work together to fight ISIS, Al Qaeda, and limit the expansion of President Assad's forces in Syria.
In Aleppo, a potential turning point for Syria

The fight over the city of Aleppo is so important that it could recast the six-year Syrian civil war.
ISIS puts a new twist on terror recruiting: big money

ISIS isn't just recruiting radicals. It's using its huge tax and oil revenues to target the Middle East's unemployed with promises of cash and benefits.
Reported death of Uzbek president launches succession speculation

Uzbek President Islam Karimov has died, three diplomatic sources told Reuters on Friday, leaving no obvious successor to lead the Central Asian nation of 32 million.
George Washington U takes heat for hiring former Al Qaeda extremist

GWU has hired Jesse Morton, a former US-based recruiter for Al Qaeda, saying the reformed extremist will provide a valuable perspective on radicalization.
The Monitor's View Iraq’s opportunity in the battle for Mosul

As Iraq prepares to retake its second-largest city from Islamic State, it can use the expected victory to renew efforts to restore an historic harmony between Sunnis and Shiites.
Uzbek president's failing health raises Islamist worries

Autocratic President Islam Karimov has ruled Uzbekistan for more than two decades. But public reports he has suffered a debilitating illness raise the possibility of a succession battle, complicated by Uzbekistan's own Islamist insurgency.
Nigeria kills a top terrorist, and the world shrugs

Nigeria says it killed the leader of Boko Haram in an airstrike. It's a blow, but years of antiterror strikes have shown that there are other, more effective ways to counter terror.
The Monitor's View A jihadist’s cultural redemption

A former leader in an Al Qaeda affiliate admits guilt – and regret – in a world court for destroying ancient artifacts in Timbuktu, Mali. His advice to jihadists: Save all of humanity’s cherished culture rather than destroy it.
Is ISIS turning to more child bombers?

While children as suicide bombers could be a desperate tactic, it can also be a form of psychological warfare.
Once again, Nigerian forces say they've killed Boko Haram leader

Nigerian forces have announced that an airstrike Friday against Boko Haram killed several leaders of the terrorist group, among those claimed killed is Abubakar Shekau, infamous head of Boko Haram.
'The Terror Years' attempts to explain the post-9/11 world

In the 15 years since 9/11, New Yorker writer Lawrence Wright has been traveling the world, hoping to shed light on dark topics.
Why the ICC is trying Mali cultural destruction as war crime

Attacks on cultural heritage in war zones – in this case, in Timbuktu – have spiked as part of a strategy of hate and persecution. Some say such trials can be key to peace-building.
ISIS is not the only group to use child suicide bombers

The practice of using children as suicide bombers is not restricted to the so-called Islamic State, as other Islamic militant groups have also done so.
Why Turkey's post-coup crackdown is good news for some prisoners

In an apparent effort to make room for thousands of detainees apprehended in the wake of a July coup attempt, Turkey will release 38,000 prisoners.