- Taliban gain ground as Afghan soldiers surrender their posts
- WaPo editorial: The next president and the Middle East
Thirteen years ago the United States called the reconstruction of the Kabul-Kandahar highway "the most visible sign" of efforts to rebuild Afghanistan. But today, that stretch of road is no longer a sign of progress. Instead, littered with bomb craters and insurgent checkpoints, it's now "beyond repair," according to an Afghan official, and a symbol of the failed U.S. intervention here. – Washington Post
Opium production is up 43 percent in Afghanistan, the economy is struggling and the government has lost ground to insurgents over the last year, according to an inspector general’s report released Sunday that shows ongoing failures overshadowing the few signs of hope. – Washington Times
Women remain embattled in Afghanistan some 15 years after the U.S. intervention there, according to a U.S. watchdog’s report released Sunday that says they have made strides in education and economic opportunity, but attitudes within the country are increasingly hostile. – Washington Times
The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction quarterly report found that many of the improvements made when there were more American and coalition troops in the country are also slipping away. – Washington Examiner
The Afghan government lost control or influence between May and August over two percent of the territory it controlled, the U.S. government's top watchdog on Afghanistan said in a report on Sunday, a sign of the precarious security situation in the country and challenges posed by the Taliban and other militant groups. - Reuters
As Afghanistan tries to institute reforms in its security sector, it has struggled to bring order to the dizzying array of militias, irregular fighters, personal bodyguards and other armed groups that often fight the Taliban but also battle among themselves. – Los Angeles Times
The Afghan government lost control of 2 percent of its territory this summer, as Taliban insurgents have continued to launch attacks in an ongoing conflict that top officials describe as a “stalemate.” – Washington Free Beacon
The casualty rate has soared again this year for the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces, which have also been hit by a wave of Afghan-on-Afghan "insider attacks," according to an inspector general's quarterly report to Congress. – Military.com