Afghanistan

KHAR, Pakistan (Reuters) – Pakistani tribesmen backed by army helicopter gunships battled Islamist militants in the Bajaur region on the Afghan border on Tuesday, killing several of the militants, a tribal elder said.

KABUL (Reuters) – Three soldiers from a U.S.-led coalition force in Afghanistan have been killed in a blast in the south of the country, the U.S. military said Tuesday.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has said that he has made repeated efforts over the last two years to engage Saudi Arabia in peace talks with the Taleban.

KABUL (Reuters) – Muhammad Nabi reflects one of Afghanistan’s microcosms – a farmer once besieged by the Taliban, then by drought, who then fled to the city and now rails against food prices he blames on the very government he voted for.

KABUL (Reuters) – Afghanistan’s foreign minister on Sunday declined to confirm a report that said the government was in contact with Taliban insurgents to negotiate an end to the conflict.

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (Reuters) – Unidentified gunmen shot dead the most senior woman police officer in southern Afghanistan on Sunday, an official said.

KABUL (Reuters) – Afghanistan’s foreign minister on Sunday declined to confirm a report that said the government was in contact with Taliban insurgents to negotiate an end to the conflict.

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan are part of a “larger family”, given their historic ties and their cultural links, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told a news conference at the United Nations Headquarters on Tuesday.

HERAT, Afghanistan (Reuters) – Taliban insurgents have freed 118 laborers they kidnapped in western Afghanistan last week, Taliban commanders and Afghan officials said on Friday.

PUL-I-CHARKHI, Afghanistan (Reuters) – Afghan army recruit Mohammad Sediq is sitting out his class at a military academy on the outskirts of Kabul because his feet became swollen after he wore ill-fitting military boots without socks.