The United States says they're ready to talk to the Taliban – but is the feeling shared?

Negotiations with the United States have long been a key claim of the Taliban, who regard President Ashraf Ghani's government as illegitimate. (1965/1985) Donald Trump came to power promising to end the "total disaster" of a war in Afghanistan, but ended up engaging thousands of additional soldiers in the fight against the Taliban and the Islamic State.

And just last January, The President swore that he would never sit down with a group that is committing such "horrendous" atrocities

"We do not talk to the Taliban, we do not want to talk to the Taliban, we will finish what we have.

The reality, however, is that the war in Afghanistan is at best a stalemate, as General Nicholson himself declared at the beginning of 2017, or that she may have been lost for a long time.

While the Taliban only directly control a small part of the country, they can strike anywhere almost anytime. Last weekend, a series of coordinated attacks in the north of the country killed at least 40 Afghan security forces. And today, another Taliban attack on a checkpoint in the eastern province of Nangarhar, which killed seven other policemen, as well as an ISIS suicide bombing in the capital of Kabul, were reported but did not target the vice. -President. Seven people died in the blast.

A new United Nations report reports that nearly 1,700 Afghan civilians have been killed in the fighting in the first six months of 2018, the highest number since 2009

However, it will not be not easy to bring the Taliban to the table.

The US seeks to exit negotiated from Afghanistan since the start of Barack Obama's second term, long before most US troops were withdrawn in 2014. And the last formal peace talks between the militant group and the Afghan government failed almost immediately as they began in 2015.

A Brief Peace Weekend in June, when President Ghani declared a truce of three days to celebrate the # 39; Eid al-Fitr and Taliban fighters flooded in the cities to celebrate, was quickly followed by

He was born in a refugee camp, arrived in Canada at the age of five and, ten years later, he played professional soccer in MLS. This is not the plot of a film of the week, but the true story of Alphonso Davies.

Now 17 and on the eve of what should be a bidding war of the best European teams, Davies is remarkably … to-earth

Blaming his mother. Davies says that he is obsessed with not disappointing her. She and Davies' father fled Liberia to Ghana, and finally settled in Edmonton.

Their son's insurance on the ground is as impressive as his skills on it. From fun topics like his penchant for dance to serious questions like racism, Davies answered my questions candidly.

Canada's Ian Hanomansing describes the 17-year-old Vancouver Whitecaps, who is becoming the first male soccer superstar in Canada. 9: 24

Protesters in San Lorenzo de El Escorial, outside Madrid, protest against the plans of the Spanish socialist government to remove the remains of the Fascist dictator Francisco Franco of the mausoleum funded by the State of Valle de los Caidos (19659016). The Valley of the Dead, a 13-square-kilometer park with a basilica and a 150-meter high cross, is presented as a memorial to both sides of the country's brutal civil war. But there are only two tombs marked among the 33 000 remains buried: Franco and the tomb of Jose Antonio Primo de Rivera, the founder of the Phalange, his fascist political movement.

The demonstrators, who gathered in front of the church where Franco is buried, chanted his name and his slogans as "do not touch the valley", as well as more pointed political messages such as "Spaniards, yes, refugees, no". They also sang the anthem of the Falange, Cara al Sol while some gave fascist greetings.

Relocating Franco was one of the first priorities of the new socialist government of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez after taking power in May. His government wants to make the valley a "place of recognition and memory for all Spaniards".

The conservative government of Mariano Rajoy opposed the demands to unearth Franco, believing that the painful past of the country was to remain buried. 19659009] But the families of some of those who have fallen opposed to the dictator and defending the republic of Spain do not expect the controversy to be settled. In April, the remains of four men were removed from the mass mausoleum after a long legal battle.

Franco himself opened the monument in 1958, almost two decades after the end of the civil war. Much of the construction work was done by Republican prisoners.

A Few Words About …

Survival

Quote of the Moment

"In the United States States, we call it football. "

– US President Donald Trump congratulates his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, for organizing a" beautiful "world cup.

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Today in history

July 16, 2000: The Tornado devastates Pine Lake, Alberta [1945900] 6]