Update for Tuesday, April 19, 2016

Taliban explode a truck bomb near the Kabul headquarters of the agency that protects high-ranking politicians, then enter the building and shoot occupants, killing 28 people and injuring more than 300. The most recent account puts the death toll at 30, and says there was a single gunman in addition to the suicide bomber.

Yet another poisoning attack on schoolgirls, this time in Takhar.

Russian ambassador to Afghanistan says the situation in the country is dire, that the Taliban threaten the existence of the Afghan state. However, Russia is still willing to accept Taliban participation in the government if they fulfill the conditions for national reconciliation.

However, the former Pakistani ambassador to Afghanistan says there is no progress in the peace process. (I link to IRNA and Sputnik only when they represent viewpoints, not for factual information. -- C)

Pakistan foreign ministry claims it sincerely supports the Afghan peace process, but they are compelled to make this assertion because they have so far failed to deliver their clients, the Afghan Taliban, to the talks.