Afghanistan

Senior al Qaeda planner Abu Obeida al Masri, identified by authorities as a key suspect in the 2005 London transit bombings and a foiled 2006 plot to blow up U.S.-bound commercial airliners, has died, U.S. counterterrorism officials said yesterday.

TEHRAN (FNA)- Afghan Foreign Minister Rangin Dadfar Spanta condemned sabotage of Tehran-Kabul ties.

At least 35 people, including 17 civilians and a Nato-led soldier, have been killed in Afghanistan today. The country’s interior ministry announced that 17 civilian road-workers were killed when Taliban rebels attacked them in the southern region of Zabul.

KABUL (Reuters) – Seventeen Afghan road workers were killed in an attack in the southern Afghan province of Zabul on Tuesday, the Interior Ministry said.

WASHINGTON (AFP) — Democrats have called on President George W. Bush to refocus US counter-terror efforts to Afghanistan and Pakistan, saying that over-emphasis on Iraq has allowed Islamic extremists to regroup along the Afghan-Pakistan border. “The negligent policies of the last half-decade have permitted al-Qaeda and the Taliban to regenerate, …

BUCHAREST (Reuters) – Just how many troops does NATO need in Afghanistan? Despite repeated calls for more forces to be sent to fight Taliban insurgents, alliance leaders — meeting on Thursday at a summit in Bucharest — have been reluctant or unable to give a consistent figure for how many …

BUCHAREST, Romania – President Bush suffered a painful diplomatic setback Wednesday when NATO allies rebuffed his passionate pleas to put former Soviet republics Ukraine and Georgia on the path toward membership in the Western military alliance.

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — At the heart of President Bush’s problem in getting NATO allies to send more combat troops to Afghanistan is a basic disconnect over the war: The Europeans don’t see it as one.

BUCHAREST (Reuters) – President George W. Bush set the stage for a clash at his final NATO summit on Wednesday by pressing reluctant west European allies to set former Soviet republics Georgia and Ukraine on a path to membership.

BUCHAREST (Reuters) – President George W. Bush urged NATO allies on Wednesday to send more troops to Afghanistan, but France distanced itself from expectations in the alliance that it could deploy 1,000 extra soldiers.