WASHINGTON, Jan 23 – A senior U.S. military commander said on Wednesday he did not expect the Taliban to mount a major offensive in eastern Afghanistan this spring, but experts warned of rising violence and a stronger insurgency.

A British soldier was killed and five were injured by a roadside bomb in southern Afghanistan yesterday, the Ministry of Defence revealed today.

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AFP) — Taliban fighters killed 12 people, including a provincial reconciliation chief and five civilians, in separate attacks in insurgency-hit southern Afghanistan, officials said Sunday.

SLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) — A 15-year-old detained near the Afghan border has confessed to joining a team of assassins sent to kill Benazir Bhutto, officials said Saturday, announcing the first arrests in the case since the attack that killed the opposition leader.

KABUL, Jan 19 (Reuters) – The war in Afghanistan is only just beginning as NATO forces, far from pursuing remnants of a defeated Taliban, are entering a widening and deepening conflict they may well lose security NGO said on Saturday.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — U.S. and Afghan troops killed or wounded more than two dozen Taliban fighters during a 21-hour battle in eastern Afghanistan that ended Saturday, military officials said.

This week’s bombing of the Serena Hotel signals a significant change in tactics by the Taliban.

Forced into damage control after criticizing NATO shortcomings in Afghanistan, U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates still had a message Thursday for Canada and any other allies thinking of withdrawing its troops – don’t.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The Afghan government has banned “The Kite Runner” film from theaters and DVD shops, an official said Wednesday, though Afghan shop owners with stalls at U.S. military bases are still selling the movie there.

WASHINGTON — In an unusual public criticism, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said he believes NATO forces currently deployed in southern Afghanistan do not know how to combat a guerrilla insurgency, a deficiency that could be contributing to the rising violence in the fight against the Taliban.