WASHINGTON  – President Barack Obama will press Afghan President Hamid Karzai to extend government control beyond the capital and fight corruption in a new U.S. policy that will have a “significant non-military component,” a White House official said on Wednesday. The White House is conducting a review of all aspects …

BRUSSELS  – NATO-led forces killed nearly 100 civilians in operations against militants in Afghanistan last year, the alliance said on Wednesday, while blaming insurgents for the deaths of 10 times that number. Civilian casualties have eroded public support for President Hamid Karzai’s government and foreign troops backing it. It has …

PRAGUE  – The European Union said on Wednesday it would invite Iran to a conference on Afghanistan. Calls have grown in the international community to engage Iran in both regional diplomacy and in direct talks on Tehran’s nuclear program. EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner said the planned conference would …