By Lyse Doucet ‘Karzai is often blamed for making poor choices’ In December 2001, a new future for Afghanistan was mapped out at an international conference in Bonn, beginning with an interim government to replace the Taleban. This week we look at how much has changed since then. Five years …

US troops kill Afghan civilians Local people accused the US soldiers of targeting civilians An incident described by US forces in Afghanistan as a “complex ambush” has left 16 civilians dead. The incident occurred on the road from the eastern city of Jalalabad to Pakistan when a suicide bomber targeted …

Syria is relatively hopeful an international meeting aimed at stabilising Iraq will succeed, but much depends on the attitude of the US, Vice-President Farouq al-Shara was quoted yesterday as saying.