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 …