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13 July 2019An American soldier was killed during a Taliban attack in Afghanistan. NATO announced it, specifying that it is the tenth US military to lose its life this year in the country, at the center of intense negotiations promoted by Washington to put an end to a nearly twenty-year war. The Atlantic Alliance did not provide the soldier's name or other details of the attack in which the soldier was killed, waiting for family members to be informed. The United States has 14,000 soldiers deployed in Afghanistan, most of whom are now engaged as trainers and advisors for local troops, their number is much lower than the 100,000 that they were in the period of maximum American involvement in the region.

In the 18 years of conflict since the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, 2,300 US soldiers lost their lives and over 20,000 were injured. President Donald Trump has promised to bring troops home as soon as possible and US special envoy, Zalmay Khalilzad, is lobbying to reach a peace agreement with the Taliban that would result in the withdrawal of foreign soldiers in exchange for a series of guarantees, including that Afghanistan does not return to being an enclave of international terrorism. Pakistan yesterday joined the US, Russia and China calls for the Taliban to accept both a ceasefire and direct negotiations with the Afghan executive, so far officially rejected.

At the beginning of the week in Doha, Qatar, there were two days of meetings between fighters and members of the government, who were present in a personal capacity. A joint press release came out of the meeting, in which among other things mention was made of defending women's rights "within the framework of Islamic values". A passage that was received with cautious attention by the activists, worried by the openings towards the Taliban who had imposed draconian rules on women during their regime.