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A car bomb attack claimed by the Taliban near a compound used by Afghanistan’s intelligence agency in Qalat, the capital of Zabul province in southern Afghanistan, left at least 15 dead and more than 90 wounded Thursday morning.

Prospects for peace in Afghanistan appeared more remote Thursday after an early morning Taliban suicide car bomb attack on a government building in southern Afghanistan killed at least 15 people, bringing to more than 70 the death toll in such attacks this week. The violence is expected to increase further as Taliban insurgents have warned of attacks on polling centers just days ahead of the country’s planned presidential elections.

"Iran's foreign minister warned Thursday that any attack on his country over a drone-and-missile strike on Saudi Arabia's oil industry will result in 'all-out war,' further pushing up tensions across the Persian Gulf."

"Twenty people have died after a truck packed with explosives was detonated by Taliban militants outside a hospital in southern Afghanistan."

"A draft agreement for peace between the U.S. and the Taliban in Afghanistan got a lot of hopes up late this summer, but the former head of U.S. special operations ― most well known for overseeing the mission that ultimately took out Osama Bin Laden ― said that making concessions to the extremist group is the wrong move."

President Donald Trump said Wednesday the U.S. has "many options" in addition to military strikes to respond to Iran's missile and drone attacks that knocked out half of Saudi Arabia's oil production last weekend.

"The history of warfare has never been filled with good predictions of how warfare would evolve in the future. Aside from the odd science fiction writer, no one predicted the technical, tactical, and strategic nature of World War I. World War II began with gross exaggerations of the threat posed by poison gas and the air forces of the day."

The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously Tuesday to extend and strengthen the mandate of its mission in Afghanistan, overcoming threats of a Chinese veto.

"The assault on the beating heart of Saudi Arabia's vast oil empire follows a new and dangerous pattern that's emerged across the Persian Gulf this summer of precise attacks that leave few obvious clues as to who launched them."

"The Taliban promised Washington during months of negotiations that the United States would never again be attacked from Afghan soil. Such a pledge would have included al-Qaida, which planned the 9/11 attacks from inside Afghanistan."

"At least 46 people have been killed and dozens wounded in two Taliban attacks in Afghanistan."

"A suicide bomb attack at an election rally in Afghanistan has killed at least 26 people."

"Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi calls on followers to intensify their efforts after losing control of territory."

"Officials say intelligence points to Iran as staging ground for strikes, as allies weigh retaliation."

"Following the Houthi attack on Saturday on Saudi Aramco’s crude-oil processing facility, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made an obvious and necessary point: Blame Iran."

"Documents prepared by U.S. federal prosecutors outline for the first time the possible role of the former Venezuelan president in drug trafficking."

"The U.S.-led coalition said Sunday that 'good progress' was being made in implementing a buffer zone in northern Syria along the Turkish border."

U.S. President Donald Trump says American forces are 'locked and loaded' to respond to the fiery attacks on one of Saudi Arabia’s largest oil fields and the world’s biggest crude oil stabilization facility.

U.S. Air Force Gen. Tod Wolters, NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR), told a small group of reporters that Afghan elections “probably won’t be perfect,” but the 29-member North Atlantic alliance will “plan and execute to the ends of the Earth” to try to make the September 28 vote as safe as possible.

"Saudis race to repair the damage from the strikes, which forced the suspension of more than half of the kingdom’s output."

Saudi Arabia’s energy minister said Saturday that drone attacks on two Aramco oil facilities by a Yemen Houthi militia group have cut the kingdom’s oil production in half.

"Preemptively targeting Iran and its proxies in Syria, or 'mowing the grass,' as the Israelis say, remains the centerpiece of the strategy to deny Iran a 'land bridge' to its proxies in Lebanon, via Iraq and Syria. Such a route would pose an abiding threat to Israel. Read more: https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2019/09/israel-anti-iran-strategy-worries-conflict.html#ixzz5zYzYfa7L

A spokesman for Afghanistan’s President Ashraf Ghani says the Afghan government will only consider making a "legitimate" peace with the Taliban after a national election in September, despite political uncertainty following the recent collapse of U.S.-Taliban peace talks.

"Taliban negotiators have held talks with Russian officials in Moscow, in an apparent effort to restart discussions with the U.S. just days after President Trump killed a nearly completed deal to withdraw American forces from Afghanistan and declared negotiations with the insurgent group dead."

Saudi Arabia's interior ministry says that fires from an apparent early morning drone strike at Aramco oil facilities in the eastern town of Abqaiq have been extinguished and that no one was killed in the attacks.