Afghanistan

British troops are facing “operational” defeat in Afghanistan because of years of government underfunding, a former head of the armed forces warned last night.

* Afghan Interior Ministry claims a group was killed smuggling weapons from Pakistan. KABUL/KHOST: Nearly 80 Taliban rebels were killed in a series of air raids by international military forces near Afghanistan’s eastern border with Pakistan, a provincial government spokesman said on Sunday.

WASHINGTON (AFP) – The White House concluded in a recent secret report that the war effort in Afghanistan has not met strategic goals set this year, The Washington Post reported Sunday.

Afghan and NATO-led forces killed 65 Taliban rebels when they called in air strikes as the insurgents smuggling weapons across the border from Pakistan, the Afghan Interior Ministry said on Sunday.

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan – Taliban militants beheaded seven policemen Friday after overrunning their checkpoints in southern Afghanistan, officials said, while in a separate clash, an Australian soldier and three civilians were killed.

An Australian commando was killed in a clash with Taliban militia in Afghanistan on Friday, a day before Australians go to the polls in national elections in which the war in Iraq and Afghanistan will feature.

OTTAWA – A senior Canadian general painted an upbeat picture of the war in Afghanistan to a House of Commons committee Thursday, contradicting an international think-tank.

More than half of Afghanistan is back under Taliban control and the Nato force in the country needs to be doubled in size to cope with the resurgent group, a report by the Senlis Council think-tank says. A study by the group found that the Taliban, enriched by illicit profits …

The Taliban has a permanent presence in most of Afghanistan and the country is in serious danger of falling into the group’s hands, according to a report from an international think tank.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — U.S. spending on aid work in Afghanistan is only a fraction of what the American military spends, and too much of the aid money pays the high salaries of expatriate employees, an international aid agency said Tuesday.