Afghanistan

KABUL, Afghanistan – Fighting between NATO troops and Taliban fighters killed eight soldiers — including six Westerners — in eastern and southern Afghanistan, where insurgent attacks are running at their highest level since the U.S. invasion, officials said Monday. Reports from officials Monday and Tuesday indicated 29 militants also were …

WANA, Pakistan (AFP) – Pro-Taliban militants on Tuesday released 19 Pakistani soldiers who were abducted earlier this month in the rugged tribal belt bordering Afghanistan, officials said.Armed militants kidnapped 16 Pakistani soldiers from the South Waziristan tribal district on August 9 and seized another four security officials including a colonel …

KABUL (AFP) – Afghanistan’s opium production has doubled in two years, reaching a new high in 2007, with the country almost the exclusive supplier of the world’s deadliest drug, the United Nations announced Monday. Production was estimated to have jumped 34 percent this year over last with the number of …

KABUL, Afghanistan – Fighting between NATO troops and Taliban fighters killed eight soldiers — including six Westerners — and 10 militants in eastern and southern Afghanistan, where insurgent attacks are running at their highest level since the U.S. invasion, officials said Monday.French President Nicolas Sarkozy said he was adding 150 …

Debate is raging in Italy and Germany, and to a lesser extent the Netherlands and Denmark, on whether they should remain in the International Security and Assistance Force (ISAF), already grappling with a shortage of troops in the face of one of the most intense military engagements in decades. “There …

KABUL, Afghanistan – A string of bombings and gun battles reported around Afghanistan Saturday killed 41 people and left at least six wounded, including two foreigners hurt in a suicide bombing near the capital.Insurgent violence is running at its highest level since U.S. forces invaded the country in 2001 to …

KABUL, Afghanistan – A U.S. warplane mistakenly dropped a 500-pound bomb on British troops after they called for air support in Afghanistan, killing three soldiers and seriously wounding two others in an accident that could re-ignite debate about America’s heavy use of air power.Friendly fire involving U.S. troops has led …

As of Friday, Aug. 24, 2007, at least 361 members of the U.S. military had died in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan as a result of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001, according to the Defense Department. The department last updated its figures Aug. 18, 2007. Of those, the …

SEOUL, South Korea – Two South Korean ex-hostages begged for the release of 19 of their fellow church volunteers still held captive in Afghanistan, saying in an interview broadcast Thursday that their anguish for the others overshadowed the relief of being freed.Kim Kyung-ja, 37, and Kim Jee-na, 32, were among …

SEOUL (AFP) – A South Korean woman aid worker held by Afghanistan’s Taliban gave up her chance of freedom so that another woman could be released in her place, two freed hostages have said.Kim Gi-Na and Kim Kyung-Ja made the disclosure in an interview with Al-Jazeera TV from the military …