Ron Synovitz is a senior correspondent for RFE/RL.
NATO countries with forces in Afghanistan are bringing in new vehicles to protect troops from improvised explosive devices.
Members of a South Korean Christian aid group that tried to organize a three-day "peace festival" have been expelled after Islamic clerics accused them of proselytizing.
NATO is ramping up its mission in Afghanistan. In the future, troops will engage in combat and commanders will be able to order preemptive strikes.
The Taliban's seizure of two remote districts in the Afghan province of Helmand on July 16 has raised concerns about how well NATO can maintain security in remote parts of the country.
An Afghan lawmaker is contesting claims by the U.S.-led coalition about battle casualties in his home province of Oruzgan. He says the killing of civilians by coalition air strikes in southern Afghanistan is going unreported.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai (file photo) (epa) Efforts by the Afghan government to recruit militia fighters as security along the Afghan-Pakistan border have raised concerns about reforms in the country. President Hamid Karzai's government says it does not want to bring entire militia groups into Afghanistan's security services. But experts remain skeptical, saying any move to arm or pay militia fighters in southern Afghanistan as police is a dangerous step that could set back years of work to disarm warlords and their fighters.
There have been more combat-related deaths in southern Afghanistan during the past two months than any similar time period since the U.S-led coalition's campaign against the Taliban regime in late 2001.
Afghan Foreign Minister Rangin Dadfar Spanta has called for more international help to fight terrorism and unrest in his country, saying that countering terror is a global concern.
An essential part of Kabul's strategy to eradicate opium-poppy cultivation is to help farmers grow alternative crops. Some critics argue that few crops can earn Afghan farmers enough money to be a realistic alternative to opium.
Some say the violence reflects growing resentment over foreign troops and NGOs, but suspects also include antigovernment political groups, common criminals, and "enemies" of Afghanistan.
PRAGUE, May 25, 2006 (RFE/RL) -- Iranian Foreign Minister Manuchehr Mottaki met in Islamabad today with Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz. Mottaki said the goal of his two-day visit to Pakistan is to improve communications and bilateral relations -- particularly in the area of trade.
Most Western military experts agree that the Taliban offensive is aimed at derailing NATO's expansion into southern Afghanistan, but is it also targeting public opinion?
At a summit in Sofia, NATO foreign ministers are expected to discuss Iran's nuclear program and the planned deployment in southern Afghanistan, but also begin talks about how to respond to the aspirations of prospective new members.
Intense overnight fighting killed eight suspected Taliban fighters and an Afghan police officer in Helmand and Kandahar provinces, following threats by the Taliban to target British and Canadian soldiers, who are currently being deployed in the south.
Pakistan's Musharraf (left) and Afghanistan's Karzai have not been so friendly of late (epa) Visiting Afghan President Hamid Karzai said today in India that he wants to involve both India and Pakistan in the three-way cooperation scheme that would enhance both security and economic development. Karzai is continuing an official visit to India that has focused on regional security and India's support for Afghan reconstruction.
The UN has declared the first International Day for Mine Awareness, meant to highlight the nearly 20,000 deaths and serious injuries caused annually by land mines from conflicts in more than 80 countries.
An Afghan border-police chief who claimed that his officers killed 16 Taliban fighters in southern Kandahar Province last week is now under investigation for allegedly using the war on terrorism as an excuse to settle a personal blood feud.
A Taliban spokesman says the group has begun a new offensive in the southern part of the country. A bold attack has already left two coalition soldiers dead.
Despite the release of an Afghan man who faced a possible death sentence because of his conversion from Islam to Christianity, Human Rights Watch says it is not enough for Afghan courts to declare that Abdul Rahman is mentally unfit to face trial.
An Afghan man who faces a possible death sentence for converting to Christianity has undergone mental tests that could spare him from execution.
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