The rights of women constitute an "absolute red line" for the Afghan government in peace negotiations between the US and the Taliban, Afghan Foreign Minister Salahuddin Rabbani said Tuesday.

"There will be no restrictions on girls' schooling -- we shall not sacrifice what we have been building for 18 years," Rabbani told Bild daily, voicing strong support for the peace talks in Qatar.

"Negotiation is the only way to end this conflict and these problems," he said.

But he added: "Let's be clear -- when we talk of peace that does not mean we are giving in. This is not about re-establishing the Taliban regime in the country.

"If we have peace, stability and foreign investment in this country then people will not want to leave Afghanistan for Germany. They will stay put. That is why the peace process is so important."

The Taliban are refusing to hold direct peace talks with President Ashraf Ghani, despite repeated US demands that intra-Afghan dialogue should include the government.

During the most recent session of the talks which ended on March 16 in Doha, US envoy Zalmay Khalilzad said that "progress is being made" but that much remained to be done.

Rabbani told Bild that Germany, which has a military presence in Afghanistan, could host a third session of peace talks.

"As the minister (German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas) said recently Germany is ready to welcome peace talks. The Afghan government appreciates that. When the moment comes we shall address ourselves to our German friends," he said.

Air strike kills 13 civilians, mostly children, in Afghanistan
Kabul (AFP) March 25, 2019 - At least 13 civilians were killed, mostly children, in an air strike by "international forces" in the northern Afghan city of Kunduz late last week, the United Nations said Monday.

The strike happened between late Friday and early Saturday in support of ground operations conducted by pro-government forces fighting Taliban militants in the area.

"Initial fact-finding indicates that 10 of those killed were children, part of the same extended family whom were displaced by fighting elsewhere in the country," the UN mission in Afghanistan said in a statement.

The US is the only member of the international coalition in Afghanistan that provides air support in the conflict.

A NATO spokesperson told AFP the coalition was investigating the claims.

"Those who were killed were internally displaced families who had fled the war in Dasht-e-Archi district and had recently moved to the city," added Khosh Mohammad Nasratyar, member of Kunduz provincial council, saying three children were also wounded in the attack.

The deaths come as ordinary Afghans continue to bear the brunt of the conflict, with more civilians killed in the Afghan war in 2018 than during any other year on record, according to a UN report.

The uptick in violence in 2018 coincides with a significant increase in the number of deaths caused by the "deliberate targeting of civilians", according to the report, mostly stemming from suicide attacks by insurgents allied with the Taliban or Islamic State (IS).

An increase in air strikes by US and Afghan forces also led to more civilian deaths in 2018, with more than 500 killed by "aerial operations for the first time on record".

Fighting continues to flare across Afghanistan even as the US and Taliban press forward in peace talks aimed at ending nearly 18 years of fighting.

The ongoing peace talks with the Taliban follow years of escalating violence in Afghanistan.

According to the UN, at least 32,000 civilians have been killed and another 60,000 wounded in the last decade.

Kunduz has been the scene of repeated air strikes gone awry over the course of the conflict, including an Afghan strike last April on an outdoor religious gathering in Dashte Archi that killed or wounded 107 people, mostly children, according to the UN.

And in 2015, a US airstrike struck a Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) hospital amid heavy fighting in the area, killing 42 people, including 24 patients and 14 members of the NGO.

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China 'invites' EU diplomats to visit Xinjiang
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China said Thursday it had invited European diplomats to visit the restive northwest region of Xinjiang, where Beijing is accused of rights abuses against the ethnic Uighur Muslims. "In order to enhance the understanding of the achievements of Xinjiang's economic and social development in Europe... the Chinese side invited the diplomatic envoys of European countries to visit Xinjiang," foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told reporters. The dates of the visit and other arrangements were under ... read more