by tyler | Mar 19, 2024 | asia, CNN
Here is a look at the life of former Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte.
Birth date: March 28, 1945
Birth place: Maasin, Southern Leyte, Philippines
Birth name: Rodrigo Roa Duterte
Father: Vicente Duterte, lawyer and politician
Mother: Soledad (Roa) Duterte, teacher
Marriage: Elizabeth Zimmerman (annulled in 2000)
Children: with Elizabeth Zimmerman: Paolo, Sebastian and Sara; with Honeylet Avanceña: Veronica
Education: Lyceum of the Philippines University, B.A.,1968; San Beda College, J.D.,1972
Religion: Roman Catholic
Duterte was mayor of Davao City for seven terms and 22 years, although not consecutively.
His father was the governor of unified Davao and a member of President Ferdinand Marcos’ cabinet.
Duterte’s daughter, Sara Duterte, was the mayor of Davao City.
Once compared himself to Adolf Hitler, saying he would kill millions of drug addicts.
Cursed Pope Francis for traffic problems caused by the pontiff’s visit to the Philippines.
For decades, he has allegedly been tied to “death squads” in Davao City.
Has declared that he will urge Congress to restore the death penalty by hanging in the Philippines.
1977-1986 – Special counsel, and then city prosecutor of Davao City.
1986-1988 – Vice-Mayor of Davao City.
1988-1998 – Mayor of Davao City.
1995 – After Flor Contemplacion, a Filipino domestic worker, is hanged in Singapore for murdering her co-worker in 1991, Duterte leads protestors in burning the Singapore flag.
1998-2001 – Becomes a congressman representing Davao City’s 1st District.
2001-2010 – Mayor of Davao City.
April 6, 2009 – Human Rights Watch publishes the findings of its “Davao Death Squad” investigation, scrutinizing more than two dozen killings that occurred in 2007 and 2008. Findings show no direct link to the killings and Duterte but do provide evidence of a complicit relationship between government officials and members of the DDS.
May 24, 2015 – He vows to execute 100,000 criminals and dump their bodies into Manila Bay.
April 2016 – Duterte comes under fire after making a controversial comment during a campaign rally about a 1989 prison riot that led to the rape and murder of a female missionary. According to a CNN Philippines translation of the video, he says, “they raped her, they lined up to her. I was angry she was raped, yes that was one thing. But she was so beautiful, I thought the mayor should have been first. What a waste.” His party issues an apology, but Duterte later disowns it.
May 30, 2016 – The Philippine Congress officially declares Duterte the winner of the May 9th presidential election after the official count is completed.
June 30, 2016 – Takes office as president.
August 5, 2016 – In a speech, he claims he told US Secretary of State John Kerry that US Ambassador to the Philippines Philip Goldberg is a “gay son of a bitch.”
September 7, 2016 – Duterte and US President Barack Obama meet briefly in Laos while attending the yearly Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit. The two were scheduled to meet prior for bilateral talks regarding the South China Sea, but Obama canceled their meeting as Duterte’s fiery rhetoric escalated.
September 15, 2016 – A witness, Edgar Matobato, testifies before a Philippine Senate committee, claiming he is a member of Duterte’s alleged “Davao Death Squad,” and that the Philippine president gave orders to kill drug dealers, rapists and thieves. The committee was set up to probe alleged extrajudicial killings in the three months since Duterte became president.
October 4, 2016 – The Philippines and the United States begin joint military exercises in Manila for what Duterte claims will be the final time under the decade-long landmark Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement.
October 20, 2016 – Duterte announces at the PH-China Trade & Investment Forum, “In this venue I announce my separation from the US; militarily, [but] not socially, [and] economically.”
November 29, 2016 – Nine members of Duterte’s security team are injured after their convoy is hit by an explosive device in advance of a planned visit by the president to Marawi City.
December 12, 2016 – Admits to killing suspected criminals during his time as mayor of Davao City.
November 9, 2017 – Ahead of APEC meetings with regional leaders, Duterte tells a group of Filipino expatriates, in the central Vietnamese city of Da Nang, that he stabbed someone to death when he was 16.
November 13, 2017 – US President Donald Trump and Duterte “briefly” discussed human rights and the Philippines’ bloody war on drugs during their closed-door conversation, the White House announces. However, the spokesman for Duterte tells reporters that “human rights did not arise” during the meeting.
February 8, 2018 – The International Criminal Court (ICC) says it is opening a preliminary examination of the situation in the Philippines regarding extrajudicial killings. The examination “will analyze crimes allegedly committed … in the context of the ‘war on drugs’ campaign,” specifically since July 1, 2016. Duterte’s spokesman tells reporters that the president “welcomes this preliminary examination because he is sick and tired of being accused of the commission of crimes against humanity.”
December 5, 2018 – The ICC reports that they have a “reasonable basis to proceed with the preliminary examination” into the alleged extra-judicial killings of thousands of people since July 1, 2016.
March 17, 2019 – The Philippines officially leaves the ICC. The action, taken after a 12-month waiting period required by ICC statute, follows an initial announcement made March 14, 2018.
October 5, 2020 – Duterte reveals he has a chronic neuromuscular disease. In a speech in Moscow, he tells a crowd of Filipinos living in the Russian capital he had myasthenia gravis, which he describes as a “nerve malfunction,” reports CNN Philippines.
March 12, 2020 – Duterte places Metro Manila under community quarantine from March 15 to April 14 to contain the COVID-19 spread in the metropolis.
March 23, 2020 – The Senate, in a 12-0 vote, approves a bill declaring the existence of a national emergency and granting Duterte additional powers to address the COVID-19 crisis. The additional powers will remain in effect for at least three months or until the state of calamity in the entire country is lifted.
November 15, 2021 – Files to run for senator in the 2022 election. Duterte is not eligible to run for president again, and his daughter, Sara Duterte-Carpio, is running for vice president. He withdraws his bid on December 14.
June 30, 2022 – Duterte steps down as president.
by tyler | Mar 19, 2024 | CNN, europe
Here’s a look at the life of Theresa May, former prime minister of the United Kingdom.
Birth date: October 1, 1956
Birth place: Eastbourne, England
Birth name: Theresa Mary Brasier
Father: Hubert Brasier, Anglican vicar
Mother: Zaidee (Barnes) Brasier
Marriage: Philip May (1980-present)
Education: St. Hugh’s College, University of Oxford, Geography, 1974-1977
Religion: Anglican
Has Type 1 diabetes.
Was the first female chairman of the Conservative Party.
Was introduced to her husband in 1976 at an Oxford Conservative Association dance by Benazir Bhutto, who later became the prime minister of Pakistan.
Lost both of her parents in her 20s.
Co-founded Women2Win, an organization dedicated to increasing the number of conservative women in Parliament.
Is the second female prime minister of Great Britain. Margaret Thatcher was the first. She served from 1979 to 1990.
1977 – Takes a job with the Bank of England.
1985 – Begins working for the Association for Payment Clearing Services as an adviser on international affairs.
1986-1994 – Councillor in the London borough of Merton.
May 1997 – Elected Conservative Member of Parliament for Maidenhead.
1999-2001 – Shadow Secretary of State for Education and Employment.
2001-2002 – Shadow Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions.
2004-2005 – Shadow Secretary of State for the Family.
May 2010-July 2016 – Home Secretary.
2012 – Introduces the controversial Data Communications Bill, which would require UK internet service providers and communications companies to collect more data about users’ online activities. Opponents call it the “Snoopers’ Charter.”
July 11, 2016 – Is named leader of the Conservative Party.
July 13, 2016 – Replaces David Cameron as British prime minister when he resigns after the UK votes to leave the European Union.
July 20-21, 2016 – Takes her first international trip as Britain’s prime minister, to Berlin to meet with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and to Paris, to meet with French President Francois Hollande.
January 26-27, 2017 – During a visit to the United States, May becomes the first serving foreign leader from outside the US to speak at the annual congressional Republican retreat and the first foreign leader to meet with US President Donald Trump since his inauguration.
April 18, 2017 – Calls for an early general election to take place.
May 22, 2017 – Following the Manchester explosion, May announces that election campaigning will be suspended until further notice.
June 8, 2017 – In a competitive general election, May’s Conservative Party loses its majority in the UK parliament, coming up eight seats short. The Labour Party, led by opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn, picks up 32 seats for a total of 262 seats.
June 9, 2017 – May visits Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace, an early step in the process of forming a new coalition government. May’s proposed new government will be a partnership between the Conservative Party and the Democratic Unionist Party of Northern Ireland. The next day, two of May’s top advisers resign, even as May herself rebuffs calls to step down.
September 22, 2017 – During a speech in Florence, Italy, May proposes a “strictly time-limited” transition period to ease Britain’s 2019 withdrawal from the European Union.
December 6, 2017 – Prosecutors describe a plot to assassinate May involving an explosive device at the gates of Downing Street that would give the attacker access to No. 10, May’s residence as Naa’imur Zakariyah Rahman appears in court on charges of terrorism offenses in the alleged plot.
April 17, 2018 – May apologizes for her government’s treatment of some Caribbean immigrants to the UK and insists they were still welcome in the country. The apology comes amid widespread condemnation of the government’s treatment of the so-called Windrush generation, the first large group of Caribbean migrants to arrive in the UK after World War II.
July 6, 2018 – At the end of a cabinet meeting on Brexit, May announces a proposal that aims to preserve free trade with the European Union. In return for free access to its biggest export market, the UK would commit to following EU rules and regulations on goods and accept a limited role for its highest court. Two cabinet members – Brexit Secretary David Davis and Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson – resign days later in protest to the plan.
July 17, 2018 – May survives a crucial vote in parliament when MPs vote 307 to 301 against a proposal by Remain-supporting members of her Conservative party that would have significantly undermined her Brexit strategy.
September 21, 2018 – After an EU summit in Salzburg, Austria, at which her Brexit plan was largely rejected, May called for the EU to “respect” the British position and the Brexit vote. Negotiations, she said, are “at an impasse.”
December 12, 2018 – Survives a vote of no-confidence among Tory members of parliament, garnering 200 of the 317 possible votes. The vote was called after May postponed a parliamentary decision on a Brexit deal amid signs it would not be approved.
January 15, 2019 – May’s Brexit deal is defeated 432 votes to 202, the greatest margin of defeat since 1924. Corbyn calls for a vote of no-confidence after May’s defeat saying it will allow the House of Commons to “give its verdict on the sheer incompetence of this government.”
January 16, 2019 – May survives a vote of no-confidence in the House of Commons. Lawmakers voted 325 to 306 in favor of the government remaining in power. Following the vote, May calls on Britain’s political parties to “put self-interest aside” and word together on a compromise Brexit deal.
March 27, 2019 – Lawmakers in the House of Commons seize control of the parliamentary timetable from May in order to vote on alternatives to her Brexit plan. After hours debating, MPs in the House of Commons fail to back any of the propositions. At 5 p.m. local time, May regains the initiative and offers to resign if MPs back her withdrawal agreement.
May 24, 2019 – May announces that she will resign as leader of the Conservative Party on June 7th. She will stay on as prime minister until a successor is chosen.
July 24, 2019 – Tenders her official resignation to the Queen at Buckingham Palace. Johnson becomes the new prime minister.
December 12, 2019 – Wins reelection as the Conservative MP for Maidenhead.
March 8, 2024 – Announces that she will step down as an MP at the next general election, ending 27 years in parliament.
by tyler | Mar 19, 2024 | CNN, cnn10
March 14, 2024
Today on CNN 10, the latest news from Haiti, where gangs now control about 80 percent of the capital, according to the UN. We’ll discuss the surge pricing strategy that more restaurants in the US are looking to implement to offset growing food and labor costs. You’ll also hear from an etiquette expert who’ll give a refresher on the good manners at workplace. All that and more on this episode of CNN 10.
Click here to access the printable version of today’s CNN 10 transcript.
CNN 10 serves a growing audience interested in compact on-demand news broadcasts ideal for explanation seekers on the go or in the classroom. The show’s priority is to identify stories of international significance and then clearly describe why they’re making news, who is affected, and how the events fit into a complex, international society.
Thank you for using CNN 10
by tyler | Mar 19, 2024 | CNN, us
Here is a look at the life of former US Secretary of State and ExxonMobil CEO, Rex Tillerson.
Birth date: March 23, 1952
Birth place: Wichita Falls, Texas
Birth name: Rex Wayne Tillerson
Father: Bob Tillerson, Boy Scouts of America executive
Mother: Patty (Patton) Tillerson
Marriage: Renda (St. Clair) Tillerson
Children: Four children
Education: University of Texas at Austin, B.S., 1975
Tillerson and his wife, Renda, operate a Texas horse ranch called Bar RR Ranches.
An Eagle Scout, Tillerson served as president of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) in 2010 and 2011. As a member of the BSA executive board, he helped advocate for the inclusion of gay youth in the Scouts. The organization reversed its ban on gay Scouts in 2013 and four years later, the BSA opened up membership to transgender youth. While Tillerson has a reputation as a BSA reformer, he has been criticized by gay rights groups because, under his leadership, Exxon continued to resist calls to implement policies protecting LGBTQ employees from harassment. In 2015, the company added sexual orientation and gender identity to its equal opportunity policy.
1975 – Joins Exxon as a production engineer.
1987-1989 – Business development manager of Exxon’s domestic natural gas department.
1989-1992 – General manager for regional oil and gas production.
1992 – Production adviser for Exxon Corporation.
1992-1995 – Coordinator of affiliate gas sales for Exxon Company, International.
1995 – Becomes president of Exxon Yemen and other overseas subsidiaries.
1998 – President of Exxon Ventures and Exxon Neftegas in Russia.
1999 – Becomes the executive vice president of Exxon Development Company.
1999 – Exxon Corp and Mobil Corp complete their merger.
2001-2003 – Senior vice president of ExxonMobil.
2004 – Becomes president of ExxonMobil and a member of the company’s board of directors.
2006 – Is named chairman and CEO of ExxonMobil.
2013 – Receives the Order of Friendship award from Russian President Vladimir Putin. During Tillerson’s tenure as ExxonMobil CEO, the company invests in oil production in Siberia, the Arctic Circle and the Black Sea.
December 13, 2016 – President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team announces that Tillerson has been nominated for secretary of state. Tillerson was recommended for the role by former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates. Their consulting firm, RiceHadleyGates LLC has a contract with ExxonMobil.
December 14, 2016 – Tillerson announces that he will retire from ExxonMobil at the end of December.
January 11, 2017 – During his confirmation hearing, Tillerson is questioned about his ties to Russia and asked about what he will do to promote human rights abroad. In response to a query on global warming, Tillerson says he believes climate change is a serious issue.
February 1, 2017 – Tillerson is confirmed by the Senate by a 56-43 vote. All of the Republicans voted for him while most of the Democrats voted against him. Later in the evening, Tillerson is sworn in as secretary of state.
February 15, 2017 – Tillerson arrives in Germany on his first overseas trip. He represents the United States at the G20 summit in Bonn.
February 22-23, 2017 – Tillerson visits Mexico with Department of Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly. They make the trip to meet with Mexican diplomats amid tensions over border issues and new immigration policies. Enrique Peña Nieto, the president of Mexico, canceled a planned January trip to Washington to meet President Trump due to a dispute about a proposed border wall and Trump’s campaign pledge that Mexico would pay for the structure.
February 24, 2017 – The State Department announces that it will resume holding regular press briefings on March 6. Under previous administrations, the department took questions from reporters on a daily basis but the briefings were suspended after Trump took office on January 20.
March 14-19, 2017 – Tillerson makes his first trip to Asia, stopping in China, Japan and South Korea. During the visit, Tillerson declares that a new approach is needed to counter provocations by North Korea.
March 20, 2017 – Officials tell Reuters that Tillerson will not attend a NATO meeting in April, skipping the event so he can participate in talks with Trump and President Xi Jinping of China at Trump’s Florida resort, Mar-a-Lago. Officials also say the secretary of state is planning a trip to Russia later in April.
October 2017 – NBC reports that Tillerson called Trump a “moron” during a Pentagon meeting. Tillerson refuses to confirm or deny the allegation.
March 13, 2018 – Is fired by Trump.
December 7, 2018 – Tillerson calls Trump “undisciplined” during an interview with former CBS News’ Bob Schieffer. “When the President would say, ‘Here’s what I want to do and here’s how I want to do it.’ And I’d have to say to him, ‘Well Mr. President, I understand what you want to do, but you can’t do it that way. It violates the law. It violates treaty,’” Tillerson says.
May 21, 2019 – Tillerson meets with Democratic chair Rep. Eliot Engel and ranking Republican Rep. Michael McCaul from the House Foreign Affairs Committee and their senior staff for an interview that focuses primarily on his time in the Trump administration.
January 11, 2021 – In a lengthy interview published in Foreign Policy, Tillerson paints a scathing picture of Trump as someone who made uninformed decisions that were not based in reality. “His understanding of global events, his understanding of global history, his understanding of US history was really limited. It’s really hard to have a conversation with someone who doesn’t even understand the concept for why we’re talking about this,” Tillerson said in the interview conducted just prior to the US Capitol insurrection.
by tyler | Mar 19, 2024 | CNN, cnn10
March 15, 2024
Today on CNN 10, we head to Russia where presidential elections are underway. Then, we have liftoff as SpaceX launches the most powerful rocket, Starship, into space on a third test flight attempt. Next, we recognize two influential women figures during Women’s History Month: environmental activist Wangari Maathai and physicist Lise Meitner. And before you go, we meet a “groggy doggy” who would rather have his beauty sleep than wake up to start his shift watching over sheep at a Virginia farm. All that and more on this episode of CNN 10.
WEEKLY NEWS QUIZ
Questions:
1. When Daylight Saving Time begins and ends, clockmakers have to adjust 2,000 clocks at this location in London?
2. Which species was spotted in the Atlantic Ocean after over 200 years?
3. Lawmakers are looking to ban which social media app in the US because of security concerns?
4. Monday marked the beginning of which Muslim holy month?
5. Which country in Africa recently relocated rhinos to a new habitat because of a rise in that species’ population?
6. Which standardized exam just went fully digital?
7. On Wednesday’s show, we profiled the first Starbucks store where every employee is fluent in American Sign Language. Which city is that store located?
8. Haiti’s Prime Minister Ariel Henry announced what this week due to the ongoing crisis in that country?
9. Which unique sport did we showcase where competitors strap on to skis or snowboards and get pulled by a horse?
10. What’s the name of the world’s most powerful rocket that SpaceX launched on Thursday morning?
Click here to access the printable version of today’s CNN 10 transcript.
CNN 10 serves a growing audience interested in compact on-demand news broadcasts ideal for explanation seekers on the go or in the classroom. The show’s priority is to identify stories of international significance and then clearly describe why they’re making news, who is affected, and how the events fit into a complex, international society.
Thank you for using CNN 10
by tyler | Mar 19, 2024 | CNN, world
Here’s a look at the Taliban, a Sunni Islamist organization operating primarily in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The group’s aim is to impose its interpretation of Islamic law on Afghanistan and remove foreign influence from the country.
Taliban, in Pashto, is the plural of Talib, which means student.
Most members are Pashtun, the largest ethnic group in Afghanistan.
Mawlawi Haibatullah Akhundzada has been the Taliban’s supreme leader since 2016.
Reclusive leader Mullah Mohammed Omar led the Taliban from the mid-1990s until his death in 2013.
The exact number of Taliban forces is unknown.
1979-1989 – The Soviet Union invades and occupies Afghanistan. Afghan resistance fighters, known collectively as mujahedeen, fight back.
1989-1993 – After the Soviet Union withdraws, fighting among the mujahedeen erupts.
1994 – The Taliban forms, comprised mostly of students and led by Mullah Mohammed Omar.
November 1994 – The Taliban take control of the city of Kandahar.
September 1996 – The capital, Kabul, falls to the Taliban.
1996-2001 – The group imposes strict Islamic laws on the Afghan people. Women must wear head-to-toe coverings, are not allowed to attend school or work outside the home and are forbidden to travel alone. Television, music and non-Islamic holidays are banned.
1997 – The Taliban issue an edict renaming Afghanistan the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. The country is only officially recognized by three countries: Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
1997- Omar forges a relationship with Osama bin Laden, the leader of al Qaeda, who then moves his base of operations to Kandahar.
August 1998 – The Taliban capture the city of Mazar-e-Sharif, gaining control of about 90% of Afghanistan.
October 7, 2001 – Less than a month after terrorists linked to al Qaeda carry out the 9/11 attacks, American and allied forces begin an invasion of Afghanistan called Operation Enduring Freedom.
December 2001 – The Taliban lose its last major stronghold as Kandahar falls. Hamid Karzai is chosen as interim leader of Afghanistan.
November 3, 2004 – Karzai is officially elected president of Afghanistan.
December 2006 – Senior Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Osmani is killed in an airstrike by the United States.
December 11, 2007 – Allied commanders report that Afghan troops backed by NATO have recaptured the provincial town of Musa Qala from Taliban control.
October 21, 2008 – Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal confirms that Saudi Arabia hosted talks between Afghan officials and the Taliban in September. It is reported that no agreements were made.
April 25, 2011 – Hundreds of prisoners escape from a prison in Kandahar by crawling through a tunnel. The Taliban take responsibility for the escape and claim that 541 prisoners escaped, while the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force says the number is 470.
September 10, 2011 – Two Afghan civilians are killed, and 77 US troops are wounded in a truck bombing at the entrance of Combat Outpost Sayed Abad, an ISAF base in Afghanistan’s Wardak province. The Taliban claim responsibility.
September 13, 2011 – Taliban militants open fire on the US embassy and ISAF headquarters in central Kabul. Three police officers and one civilian are killed.
February 27, 2012 – The Taliban claim responsibility for a suicide bombing near the front gate of the ISAF base at the Jalalabad airport in Afghanistan. At least nine people are killed and 12 are wounded in the explosion. The Taliban say the bombing is in retaliation for the burning of Qurans by NATO troops.
June 18, 2013 – An official political office of the Taliban opens in Doha, Qatar’s capital city. The Taliban claim they hope to improve relations with other countries and head toward a peaceful solution in Afghanistan.
September 21, 2013 – A Pakistani official announces that Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, one of the founding members of the Taliban, has been released from prison. Baradar had been captured in Karachi, Pakistan, in 2010.
May 31, 2014 – The United States transfer five Guantánamo Bay detainees to Qatar in exchange for the release of US Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl. It is believed Bergdahl was being held by the Taliban and the al Qaeda-aligned Haqqani network in Pakistan. The detainees released are Khair Ulla Said Wali Khairkhwa, Mullah Mohammad Fazl, Mullah Norullah Nori, Abdul Haq Wasiq and Mohammad Nabi Omari.
July 29, 2015 – An Afghan government spokesman says in a news release that Taliban leader Omar died in April 2013 in Pakistan, citing “credible information.” A spokesman for Afghanistan’s intelligence service tells CNN that Omar died in a hospital in Karachi at that time.
September 28, 2015 – Taliban insurgents seize the main roundabout in the Afghan provincial capital of Kunduz, then free more than 500 inmates at the prison.
December 21, 2015 – A police official says Taliban forces have taken almost complete control over Sangin, a strategically important city in Afghanistan’s Helmand province.
May 21, 2016 – Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour is killed in an airstrike in Pakistan.
May 25, 2016 – The Taliban name Mawlawi Haibatullah Akhundzada as their new leader. He is a senior religious cleric from the Taliban’s founding generation.
January 25, 2017 – The Taliban release an open letter to newly elected US President Donald Trump. The letter calls on Trump to withdraw US forces from Afghanistan.
April 21, 2017 – The Taliban attack a northern army base in Afghanistan, killing or wounding more than 100 people.
July 25, 2017 – CNN reports it has exclusive videos that suggest the Taliban have received improved weaponry in Afghanistan that appears to have been supplied by the Russian government. Moscow categorically denies arming the Taliban.
August 3, 2017 – Taliban and ISIS forces launch a joint attack on a village in northern Afghanistan, killing 50 people, including women and children, local officials say.
January 27, 2018 – An attacker driving an ambulance packed with explosives detonates them in Kabul, killing 95 people and injuring 191 others, Afghan officials say. The Taliban claim responsibility.
February 28, 2018 – Afghan President Ashraf Ghani says the government is willing to recognize the Taliban as a legitimate political party as part of a potential ceasefire agreement.
April 12, 2018 – At least 14 people, including a district governor, are killed and at least five are injured in a Taliban attack in Afghanistan’s southeastern Ghazni province.
June 7, 2018 – In a video message, Ghani announces that Afghan forces have agreed to a ceasefire with the Taliban between June 12 and June 21. The proposed truce coincides with the holiday of Eid al-Fitr, the period during which Muslims celebrate the end of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting.
June 15-17, 2018 – The three-day-old ceasefire between the Taliban, Afghan forces and the NATO-led coalition is marred by two deadly attacks. ISIS, which did not participate in the truce, claims responsibility for a suicide bombing in the Nangarhar province that kills at least 25 people, including Taliban members and civilians. A second suicide bombing is carried out near the Nangarhar governor’s compound, killing at least 18 people and injuring at least 49. There is no immediate claim of responsibility for the second attack.
August 10, 2018 – The Taliban launch an attack on the strategic Afghan city of Ghazni, south of the capital Kabul, seizing key buildings and trading fire with security forces. At least 16 people are killed and 40 are injured, most are Afghan security forces.
October 13, 2018 – The Taliban issues a statement announcing that the group met with the US envoy for Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, to discuss the conflict in Afghanistan. The United States does not confirm that the meeting occurred.
November 9, 2018 – In Moscow, Taliban representatives participate in talks with diplomats from Russia, Pakistan, India and other countries, as well as officials from the Afghan government. The United States sends a diplomat from its embassy in Moscow as an observer.
January 22, 2019 – Authorities say at least 12 members of the Afghan military were killed and another 28 injured when the Taliban carried out a suicide attack on a military base in the central province of Maidan Wardak.
January 28, 2019 – Officials from the United States and the Taliban announce they have agreed to a framework that could end the war in Afghanistan. The framework for peace would see the Taliban vow to prevent the country from being used as a hub for terrorism in return for a US military withdrawal. An Afghan source close to the negotiations tells CNN that while a ceasefire and US withdrawal were both discussed, neither side came to final conclusions.
January 30, 2019 – In its quarterly report to the US Congress, the Special Inspector General for Afghan Reconstruction declares the Taliban expanded its control of territory in 2018 while the Afghan government lost control of territory. In October 2018, the Afghan government controlled just 53.8% of districts in the country, according to the report. The insurgency made gains to control 12.3% of districts while 33.9% of districts were contested.
February 5-6, 2019 – Talks are held in Moscow between Taliban leaders and politicians from the government of Afghanistan.
March 12, 2019 – Peace talks between representatives from the United States and the Taliban end without a finalized agreement. Khalilzad, the main American negotiator, says that progress has been made and the talks yielded two draft proposals.
September 7-8, 2019 – Trump announces that Taliban leaders were to travel to the Unites States for secret peace talks over the weekend but that the meeting has been canceled and he has called off peace talks with the militant group entirely. Trump tweets that he scrapped the meeting after the Taliban took credit for an attack in Kabul, Afghanistan, that killed a dozen people, including an American soldier.
November 28, 2019 – On a surprise trip to Afghanistan for a Thanksgiving visit with US troops, Trump announces that peace talks with the Taliban have restarted.
February 29, 2020 – The United States and the Taliban sign a historic agreement which sets into motion the potential of a full withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan. The “Agreement for Bringing Peace to Afghanistan” outlines a series of commitments from the United States and the Taliban related to troop levels, counterterrorism and the intra-Afghan dialogue aimed at bringing about “a permanent and comprehensive ceasefire.”
August 9, 2020 – Afghanistan’s grand assembly of elders, the consultative Loya Jirga, passes a resolution calling for the release of the last group of some 5,000 Taliban prisoners, paving the way for direct peace talks with the insurgent group. The release of the 400 prisoners is part of the agreement signed by the US and the Taliban in February.
April 14, 2021 – US President Joe Biden formally announces his decision to withdraw US troops from Afghanistan before September 11, 2021, deeming the prolonged and intractable conflict in Afghanistan no longer aligns with American priorities.
August 15, 2021 – After the Taliban seize control of every major city across Afghanistan, in just two weeks, they take control of the presidential palace in Kabul. A senior Afghan official and a senior diplomatic source tell CNN that Ghani has left the country.
August 30, 2021 – The last US military planes leave Afghanistan.
September 7, 2021 – The Taliban announce the formation of a hardline interim government for Afghanistan. Four men receiving senior positions in the government had previously been detained by the United States at Guantánamo Bay, and were released as part of a prisoner swap for Bergdahl in 2014.
November 30, 2021 – New research released by Human Rights Watch (HRW) details “the summary execution or enforced disappearance” of 47 former members of the Afghan National Security Forces who had surrendered or were apprehended by Taliban forces between August 15 and October 31. A Taliban deputy spokesman rejects the HRW report, saying that the Taliban established a general amnesty on their first day of power in Afghanistan.
December 27, 2021 – The Taliban says it has dissolved Afghanistan’s election commission as well as its ministries for peace and parliamentary affairs, further eroding state institutions set up by the country’s previous Western-backed governments.
February 11, 2022 – Biden signs an executive order allowing $7 billion in frozen assets from Afghanistan’s central bank to eventually be distributed inside the country and to potentially fund litigation brought by families of victims of the September 11 terror attacks. The Taliban has claimed rights to the funds, which include assets like currency and gold, but the United States has declined access to them after Afghanistan’s democratic government fell. The United States has not recognized the Taliban as the government of Afghanistan.
March 23, 2022 – The Taliban prevents girls above the 6th grade in Afghanistan from making their much-anticipated return to school. They are told to stay at home until a school uniform appropriate to Sharia and Afghan customs and culture can be designed, the Taliban-run Bakhtar News Agency reported. The Taliban originally said that schools would open for all students – including girls – after the Afghan new year, which is celebrated on March 21, on the condition that boys and girls were separated either in different schools or by different learning hours.
November 13, 2022 – The Taliban orders judges in Afghanistan to fully impose their interpretation of Sharia Law, including potential public executions, amputations and flogging, a move experts fear will lead to a further deterioration of human rights in the impoverished country.
December 20, 2022 – The Taliban government suspends university education for all female students in Afghanistan.
December 24, 2022 – The Taliban administration orders all local and international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to stop their female employees from coming to work, according to a letter by the Ministry of Economy sent to all licensed NGOs.
June 15, 2023 – The United Nations releases a report saying that since re-taking control of the country,the Taliban has committed “egregious systematic violations of women’s rights,” by restricting their access to education and employment and their ability to move freely in society.
