Afghanistan

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Under pressure from close ally South Korea to help free 21 South Korean hostages being held by the Taliban in Afghanistan, Washington is treading delicately, seeing few viable choices to force an acceptable solution, analysts say.

KABUL (AFP) – Defence Secretary Des Browne arrived in troubled southern Afghanistan Tuesday for a two day visit, a British military spokesman said. Browne travelled directly to the British military base near Gereshk district in the Taliban stronghold of Helmand province to meet soldiers stationed there, said a defence ministry …

KABUL (AFP) – Fresh battles in insurgency-plagued Afghanistan Tuesday left 35 Taliban fighters and six policemen dead, officials said. US-led coalition forces killed more than 20 militants when they repelled a rare frontal attack on a US military base, the coalition said in a statement. Afghan army and coalition forces …

CAMP DAVID — Afghan President Hamid Karzai and U.S. President George W Bush agreed that Pakistan must help quell deadly violence inside Afghanistan, but broke sharply on Iran’s influence there.

KABUL (AFP) – Afghan President Hamid Karzai headed Sunday for the United States and talks with US counterpart George W. Bush that risk being overshadowed by the Taliban’s detention of 21 South Koreans. Karzai is due to meet Bush at the US presidential retreat of Camp David in Maryland later …

WASHINGTON (AFP) – US President George W. Bush is to welcome Afghanistan’s leader Hamid Karzai to his Camp David retreat Sunday for talks expected to focus on the Taliban insurgency and mounting civilian casualties. The White House said they would discuss security and the US-led “war on terror” and “review …

GHAZNI, Afghanistan (Reuters) – Taliban insurgents said on Sunday there was still no agreement on where to hold direct talks with South Korean diplomats seeking the release of 21 of their countrymen kidnapped more than two weeks ago. A South Korean delegation was in Ghazni province, southwest of Kabul, where …

As of Friday, Aug. 3, 2007, at least 353 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 July 28, 2007.

Afghanistan’s Taliban was holding out for a neutral venue for talks with South Korea over the fate of 21 hostages they are threatening to kill.

SEOUL (Reuters) – The South Korean government has told Taliban insurgents holding 21 Koreans there is a limit to what it can do to resolve the hostage standoff that has stretched into a third week, an official said on Friday.