Feb. 23 (Bloomberg) — Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said his country will consider beefing up its non-military support for Afghanistan’s embattled government while ruling out any increase in troops there. After a day of talks in Canberra with two visiting U.S. officials, Smith said Australia may be prepared to …

KABUL, Feb. 23 (Xinhua) — Seven Afghan employees of a local road construction company were killed when their vehicle hit mines Saturday morning in eastern Afghan province of Kunar, a police officer said.

The visit to Afghanistan by North Atlantic Treaty Organization (Nato) Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer last week was meant to shore up confidence in the mission to stabilise the country and secure it once and for all from control of extremism in the form of the Taleban. Though Mr Jaap …