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A suicide car bomb targeted a foreign military convoy in Kabul on Thursday, killing 15 people including five Americans in the deadliest attack in the Afghan capital for nearly a year. The powerful explosion, which struck at 8:00am (local time) in the Shah Shaheed south-eastern residential district, also injured about 40 passers-by including many children going to school, officials said. Nine Afghans including two children died, along with two US soldiers and four NATO-contracted civilians who were travelling through the city's busy rush-hour traffic. A Western military source in Kabul said the two soldiers and three of the contractors were...

NEW YORK (AP) — A U.N. whistleblower who won his case but received only 2 percent of the $2.2 million he sought in damages and costs is asking the U.S. government to withhold 15 percent of its payments to the United Nations. James Wasserstrom alleged corruption involving senior officials in the U.N. peacekeeping operation in Kosovo in 2007. He is now an anti-corruption adviser at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul. Wasserstrom told a news conference Monday that he was sending a letter to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and key lawmakers asking that they implement a federal law requiring...

... new details about how a small group of men profited from fraudulent loans. It called out local authorities for succumbing to political pressure and the international community for not doing enough to stave off the catastrophe which led to a near-complete meltdown of Afghanistan’s banking system in 2010. The report, partly compiled from the results of a nine-month-long audit conducted by Kroll, a global investigations firm, said that the crisis was brought on by a well-hidden Ponzi scheme. More than 92% of the bank’s loan book, or $861 million, was extended to 19 related individuals and businesses, which ultimately...

Kabul Bank became Afghanistan’s largest financial institution by offering the promise of modern banking to people who had never had a saving or checking account. What it really dealt in was modern theft: “From its very beginning,” according to a confidential forensic audit of Kabul Bank, “the bank was a well-concealed Ponzi scheme.” Afghan and American officials had for years promoted Kabul Bank as a prime example of how Western-style banking was transforming a war-ravaged economy. But the audit, prepared this year for Afghanistan’s central bank by the Kroll investigative firm, gives new details of how the bank instead was...

From an International Security Assistance Force Joint Command News Release KABUL, Afghanistan, Sept. 15, 2012 – International Security Assistance Force officials are providing additional details about the Sept. 14 attack on Camp Bastion in Afghanistan’s Helmand province in which two coalition service members were killed when insurgents attacked the base’s airfield. Because it is still early in the investigation of this attack, information is subject to change as new details become available, officials said. The attack commenced just after 10 p.m., officials said, when approximately 15 insurgents executed a well-coordinated attack against the airfield on Camp Bastion. The insurgents, organized...

"Hurry hurry hurry. We can destroy the enemy. Advance." "Hit hit hit the Taliban." "Hit him hit him hit him. Fire, fire." "We're arriving in Khalakhan." "Take care about the troops." "The Taliban are surrendering." "Bring them to me." "One hundred of them are coming to you." "El Ham captured a pickup with their weapons." These were the voices on the radio of the Northern Alliance commanders we have been visiting for weeks. Several other journalists and I were standing with some Afghan soldiers on the roof of a command post--a mud house with a tank's turret and gun jutting ...

WASHINGTON — When the U.S. State Department announced this week that it finally is going to designate the Haqqani network as a foreign terrorist organization, it was a nonevent for most of our countrymen. That's because few Americans know how deadly the organization is. For that we can thank those at Foggy Bottom who are wedded to the naive hope of a near-term "diplomatic breakthrough" in Afghanistan. Couple that misguided belief with the Obama administration's self-deception that the radical Islamic jihad against the West ended with the demise of Osama bin Laden and it's understandable why the Haqqani network...

A Pakistani protester shout slogans at an anti-American rally to condemn the U.S. for accusing the country's most powerful intelligence agency of supporting extremist attacks against American targets in Afghanistan, in Multan, Pakistan, Friday, Sept 23, 2011. The top U.S. military officer, Adm. Mike Mullen, accused the Haqqani network Thursday of staging an attack against the U.S. Embassy in Kabul. He claimed the Pakistani spy agency, the ISI, helped the group carry out the two attacks. KABUL, Afghanistan -- Pakistani military units fired shots at American and Afghan government troops along the Afghanistan border several times over the past...

Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan: Though there's been a bit of damage to the C-17 regularly used by General Martin Dempsey, the Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff -who was thankfully off sleeping in his quarters at the time of today's pre-dawn, two-rocket volley- was not hurt. No fatalities reported either, but two ground crew were injured and -of course- the Taliban are suspected, who else.Periodic shelling of Bagram -which is situated north of Kabul- has been known to occur, though it is rare for them to hit anything of value. But General Dempsey was in town for a pow-wow...

Explanation: What are these humans doing? Dancing. Many humans on Earth exhibit periods of happiness, and one method of displaying happiness is dancing. Happiness and dancing transcend political boundaries and occur in practically every human society. Above, Matt Harding traveled through many nations on Earth, planned on dancing, and filmed the result. The above video, the latest in a series of similar videos, is perhaps a dramatic example that humans from all over planet Earth feel a common bond as part of a single species. Happiness is frequently contagious -- few people are able to watch the above video without...

A video showing the public execution of a 22-year-old woman accused of adultery in Afghanistan has been condemned by the government as un-Islamic and inhuman. The video shows her being shot repeatedly in the back in front of a crowd of men in Qol village in Parwan province just north of the capital Kabul. The woman, named as Najiba, was married to a member of a Taliban militant group and was accused of adultery with a Taliban commander, said Roshna Khalid, a Parwan provincial spokeswoman, yesterday. "Within one hour they decided that she was guilty and sentenced her to death....

President Barack Obama left Afghanistan on Wednesday, targeting a foreigners' housing compound with a suicide car bomb and militants disguised as women in an assault that killed at least seven people. It was the second major assault in Kabul in less than three weeks and highlighted the Taliban's continued ability to strike in the heavily guarded capital even when security had been tightened for Obama's visit and Wednesday's anniversary of the killing of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden in neighboring Pakistan. Obama arrived at Bagram Air Field late Tuesday, then traveled to Kabul by helicopter for a meeting with President...

KABUL, Afghanistan – A suicide car bomber and Taliban militants disguised in burqas attacked a compound housing hundreds of foreigners in the Afghan capital on Wednesday, killing seven people, officials and witnesses said. The Taliban said the attack was a response to President Barack Obama's surprise visit just hours earlier. At least 17 people were also wounded in the assault, most of them Afghan children on their way to school, the Interior Ministry said. The second major assault in Kabul in less than three weeks, the attack highlights the Taliban's continued ability to strike in the heavily guarded capital even...

President Obama has arrived in Kabul, Afghanistan, on a surprise trip to sign a strategic agreement with Afghanistan. He will address the nation at 7:30 p.m. EDT from Bagram Air Base on Tuesday evening. In going to Afghanistan on the ninth anniversary of the most notorious example of premature presidential gloating, Obama risks turning the high point of his presidency into a political weapon for his enemies. But it will be how the president conducts himself while in the war zone that will determine if this trip is lumped in with George W. Bush's donning of a flight suit and...

KABUL, May 1 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Barack Obama arrived in Afghan capital Kabul on Tuesday for an unannounced visit, Afghan officials said. During his trip here, the U.S. president is expected to sign a strategic agreement with Afghanistan, unnamed Afghan government officials were quoted as saying by local TV channels.

Taliban Launches Largest Attack On Kabul In 11 Years Government areas in Kabul and several other key locations in Afghanistan rocked by gunfire and explosions Jon Boone Emma Graham Harrison in Kabul 15 April 2012 10.44 EDT In a brazen demonstration of its ability to hit some of the best defended targets in Kabul, the Taliban mounted its largest ever co-ordinated attack in 11 years of resistance to Afghanistan's post-2001 rulers. Dozens of fighters launched gun, rocket and suicide attacks on embassies, Nato bases, parliament and government buildings in the capital, as well as Nato targets in three eastern provinces,...

KABUL (Reuters) - Gunmen launched multiple attacks in the Afghan capital Kabul on Sunday, assaulting Western embassies in the heavily guarded, central diplomatic area and at the parliament in the west. Taliban insurgents claimed responsibility for the assault, one of the most serious on the capital since U.S.-backed Afghan forces removed the group from power in 2001.

The Taliban staged multiple and sustained attacks across Kabul and eastern Afghanistan on Sunday hitting the heavily secured diplomatic neighborhood of Kabul and the Parliament area as well as Afghan government installations in at least two provinces. A NATO spokesman confirmed multiple attacks had occurred across Kabul, potentially in as many as seven locations.

According to 20 Minuten (Swiss), there is a large scal attack underway against the Parlament buildings in Kabul. The Russian Embassy has reportedly taken rocket hits. Headline only .....

KABUL, Afghanistan – Eight NATO service members and a contractor are dead after an Afghan military pilot opened fire on the foreign troops following a dispute at the airport in Kabul. Wednesday's shooting was the deadliest incident in which a member of the Afghan security forces turned against coalition forces.

KABUL, Afghanistan (CNN) -- At least 13 U.S. troops were killed in Kabul on Saturday when a suicide bomber struck a vehicle in a military convoy, a U.S. military official said. The official emphasized these are first reports of the incident and details are continuing to unfold. The attack severely damaged one of its vehicles, NATO's International Security Assistance Force said in a statement. There were Afghan and international casualties, but the exact numbers are unavailable, said Master Sgt. Christopher DeWitt, a spokesman for ISAF.Hasmat Stanikzai, spokesman for Kabul's police chief, said two students, a civilian on a motorbike and...

There are few formal street names or house numbers in Kabul - so just how does a postman deliver the mail? For the postmen of Kabul, navigating the maze of the city is a daunting task. It is a city of more than four million people and one in which hundreds of homes and streets are being developed every year. There are few street names and house numbers, and the Central Post Office has yet to introduce a full postal code system. There is often little information to work with So how does a letter find its way to the...

Gunfire, Possible Explosion at Kabul Building Believed to House CIA Gunfire and a possible explosion Sunday night rattled the building believed to house the CIA office in Kabul. It wasn’t clear if the incident took place inside the building or just outside the entrance. At least one helicopter has landed outside the building, according to local journalists. The building is in the single most secure part of Kabul and used to be known as the Arianna Hotel until 2002, when it was believed to have been taken over by the CIA. It is just a few feet from one of...

A complicated attack involving multiple gunmen and apparent suicide bombers was underway in the heart of the Afghan capital Tuesday morning, and it appeared to be focused near the U.S. Embassy. CBS News staff in Kabul reported hearing heavy gunfire and at least seven explosions, some of them large. The situation was described as "chaotic", and it remained unclear how many people were wounded. A Taliban spokesman claimed there were several militants inside at least one building near the embassy district in Kabul, and that the targets of the attack were Afghan government ministries and the intelligence services. The Taliban's...

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - Insurgents fired rockets and assault rifles in the direction of the U.S. Embassy, NATO headquarters and other official buildings Tuesday as gunfire and explosions rocked the heart of the Afghan capital. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack. The surge of violence was a stark reminder of the instability that continues to plague Afghanistan nearly a decade after the U.S. invasion that ousted the Taliban in the wake of the Sept. 11 terror attacks on the United States. Police said the gunmen were firing from a tall office building that is under construction at Kabul's Abdul...

NATO forces backed by helicopters were battling Friday with insurgents who killed at least 10 people, including a foreign soldier, in an assault on a British cultural center in the Afghan capital. At least five blasts, claimed by the Taliban, rocked the British Council offices in Kabul from the early hours of the morning, during a public holiday marking Afghanistan's independence from Britain in 1919. -excerpt- One soldier said he thought that the Britons inside the compound took refuge in a safe room, The (London) Times reported.

KABUL — Veteran diplomat Ryan C. Crocker can handle Islamist insurgencies, hostile heads of state and management of some of the world’s largest embassies. But what’s he going to do about the cats? The new leader of the U.S. Embassy in Kabul has probably already walked past (and possibly petted?) Gordo, Freckles, Dusty, Ferdinand and Maria Teresa or any of the other 25 to 30 felines that populate the downtown diplomatic campus. But in case he has not been briefed on the bizarre battle over their fate (kill them! save them! fly them to Berkeley!), here are the basics. Somewhere...

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — A Defense Ministry official says a close adviser to the Afghan president and a member of parliament have been killed during an attack in the capital.

Until last week, Solaiman Faizi's biggest problems were making sure that guests at his newly opened hotel didn't burn the place down with their small propane stoves or overload the tenuous power supply. But after an unpleasant encounter with post-Taliban vengeance and justice, Faizi isn't so sure that he should have left New Jersey to help reopen his family's hotel in one of the world's most treacherous cities. One of his brothers is stewing in Kabul's central jail, recovering from a beating by soldiers. Another brother just got out of the hospital, where he says he was treated for a...

Last week, after a decade of U.S. military presence in Afghanistan, President Obama announced a plan to begin withdrawing thousands of U.S. troops from the country this year. The war has been expensive -- a Brown University research project released Wednesday estimates the total cost of the U.S. wars in Afghanistan and Iraq at nearly $4 trillion (a figure that includes the ongoing cost of veterans' care). The human cost is more difficult to quantify, as more than 2,500 coalition troops (1,644 of them American) have now been killed, and civilian casualties are estimated at well over 100,000. Canadian combat...

The Kabul Intercontinental Hotel is under attack by gunmen with reports of at least ten deaths and suicide bombers on the roof of the hotel. Streets leading to the Intercontinental hotel were blocked. The hotel is situated on a hill overlooking the Afghan capital. The scene was dark as electricity was out at the hotel. Azizullah, an Afghan police officer who uses only one name, told an Associated Press reporter at the scene that at least one bomber entered the hotel and detonated a vest of explosives. Another police officer, who would not disclose his name, said there were at...

Just a headline for now. AP: The Taliban claim responsibility for the attack at the Intercontinental Hotel in telephone call to the AP. Gunshots heard from inside hotel.

Afghan Police: 6 Die in Kabul Supermarket Blast Associated Press January 28, 2011 KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - Police and eyewitnesses say at least six people were killed in an explosion that rocked a grocery store frequented by foreigners in Kabul. Abdul Ghafar Sayedzada, chief of counterterrorism at the Ministry of Interior, says both Afghans and foreigners are among the dead in Friday's blast. He says police were still investigating what caused the blast. The explosion ignited a fire inside the store and mounds of canned goods and other merchandise were strewn across the floor of the smoke-filled building, making it...

KABUL - The Afghan government has accused several prominent private security companies, including some that work with the U.S. government, of committing "major offenses," a move that U.S. officials fear could hasten their departure from the country. A list compiled by Afghan officials cites 16 companies, including several American and British firms, for unspecified serious violations and seven others for having links to high-ranking Afghan officials, according to a copy obtained by The Washington Post. A decision to ban the major violators and those that have relationships with senior Afghan officials would affect firms that provide about 800 guards for...

INDIANAPOLIS -- Indianapolis police said Friday morning that a 15-year-old boy from Afghanistan who has been missing since Thursday night was homesick and likely ran away. Authorities have been in contact with the U.S. State Department as the search for Mohammed Karim Azizi, 15, continues. Azizi, an exchange student who was staying with a host family in Forest, Ohio, was with a group of FFA students from his exchange school, Riverdale High School, visiting Indianapolis for the National FFA Convention. Indianapolis police Lt. Jeff Duhamell said Azizi has been in the U.S. for two months and comes from a large...

NATO has provided safe passage for top Taliban leaders to travel to Kabul for face-to-face negotiations with the U.S.-backed Afghan government, a senior alliance official said Wednesday. The official's account was the most detailed yet of the U.S. and NATO role in the clandestine talks, aimed at bringing an end to the 9-year-old war. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to describe the subject publicly. The Afghan government has previously acknowledged that it has been involved in reconciliation talks with the Taliban with some NATO help. But discussions between the two sides have been...

Afghanistan has frozen the assets of leading shareholders and borrowers at Kabul Bank, the country's leading private bank, in the wake of the crisis sparked by the resignation of two high-level directors. Aimal Hashoor, the central bank's spokesman, said on Tuesday the Central Bank had ordered the assets of Sher Khan Farnood, Kabul Bank's former chairman, and Khalilullah Fruzi, the chief executive officer, to be frozen, together with those of several other shareholders and major borrowers. "This basically stops the sale of their assets until the situation becomes clear," Hashoor said. Last week, US media reported that the central bank...

BERLIN: A German held by American forces in Afghanistan has revealed details of planned terror attacks in Germany and other European countries, Der Spiegel weekly reported Saturday. The US believes that the detainee, a 36-year-old from Hamburg, is a "major source" of information on future attacks, the news magazine reported. Germany's foreign ministry has acknowledged that a German was being held by American forces in Afghanistan, but refused to give any more details. According to the magazine, the detainee, identified only as Ahmad S, was part of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan. German authorities have been asking to be given...

As depositors thronged branches of Afghanistan's biggest bank, Mahmoud Karzai, the brother of the Afghan president and a major shareholder in beleaguered Kabul Bank called on Thursday for intervention by the United States to head off a financial meltdown. "America should do something," said Karzai in a telephone interview, suggesting that the U.S. Treasury Department guarantee the funds of Kabul Bank's clients, who number about a million and have more than a billion dollars on deposits with the bank. Kabul Bank handles salary payments for soldiers, police and teachers. It has scores of branches across Afghanistan and holds the accounts...

Afghanistan's largest gathering of clerics, who met to discuss reconciliation with the Taliban, has called for the revival of strict Islamic law as the country seeks ways to win militants away from a growing insurgency. About 350 of the Islamic clerics, or ulema, met for three days this week, the meeting ending with a declaration calling on President Hamid Karzai to enact sharia, or Islamic law, including punishments such as stonings, lashing, amputation and execution. "The lack of implementation of sharia hodud (punishment) has cast a negative impact on the peace process," said a 10-point resolution issued after the meeting....

KABUL, Afghanistan - At the end of his first full day as Commander of the NATO International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), which included overview meetings with the commander of the NATO Training Mission-Afghanistan, his three-star commanders, and a number of ISAF's staff sections, General David H. Petraeus decided to take a break and visit the Shahdarak Market in Kabul, Afghanistan. He walked from the ISAF Headquarters to the market, where he met with local businessmen, purchased and shared bread with the locals, and even found time for a little football match with a few local Afghan children. (ISAF Photo by...

6/21/2010 - KABUL (AFNS) -- For the Afghan National Army, the aerial port at the Afghan National Army Air Force base at Kabul International Airport is critical to resupplying troops in the field. The concept of an aerial port has been around for a long time, but increasing the capabilities is the job of the 438th Air Expeditionary Wing Combined Air Power Transition Force. "This group of guys is awesome. There are 23 of them and they are very, very hardworking," said Master Sgt. Michael Dow, the ANAAF Aerial Port mentor. "I am never disappointed." These 23 airmen are responsible...

Dozens of schoolgirls in Afghanistan were admitted to hospital on Tuesday after two suspected poisonous gas attacks on schools, officials said, the latest in a spate of similar incidents. Thirty schoolgirls in the northern city of Kunduz and six in Kabul were admitted to hospital, health officials and the interior ministry said. "Others are also coming in. We don't know the exact number of girls affected, it could be many. It's a similar incident to what happened in Kabul and Kunduz last week," said Homayun Khamosh, head of the Kunduz city hospital where girls were admitted.

SNIPPET: "Kabul, 21 April (AKI) - At least 12 female students were hospitalised in Afghanistan on Wednesday after inhaling a poisonous substance sprayed at a school in northern Afghanistan. The 12 students of the Fatima Zahra Girl School, and a teacher and an assistant were mysteriously poisoned, Hamayon Khamush, director of the hospital in Kunduz city, was quoted as saying by Xinhua." SNIPPET: "To defend their ideology, Taliban militants have attacked girl students with gas and acid." SNIPPET: "In May last year 90 girls were hospitalised in Kapisa province, north-east of the capital, after someone sprayed toxic chemicals in the...

KABUL - Afghan police arrested five would-be suicide bombers Thursday in Kabul — the largest suicide bomb team ever apprehended in the capital, officials said. "If this team had made it through it would have been a disaster as we've seen in past instances," said Abdul Ghafar, deputy commander of the Afghan National Police crisis unit.

SNIPPET: "ANKARA, Turkey -- Turkish police launched a nationwide crackdown on suspected militants linked to the al-Qaida terror network on Friday..." SNIPPET: "Those detained Friday's raids include a faculty member of the Yuzunci Yil University in the eastern city of Van, who is suspected of recruiting students at the campus and other people through the Internet and of sending them to Afghanistan for training, Anatolia reported, citing unnamed police officials. The suspect was identified by his initials M.E.Y. only. Anatolia said other suspects included some local leaders, university students, and people believed to be spreading al-Qaida propaganda."

The Taliban scored a power ful psychological victory yesterday, as fewer than two dozen suicide attackers brought Afghanistan's government and capital city to a standstill. In a dramatic wave of attacks (possibly planned with help from Pakistani intelligence operatives), the Taliban struck Kabul's presidential palace, several government ministries and a multistory shopping complex. And they did it just as President Hamid Karzai was swearing in his new Cabinet (despite a battle with parliament over the legitimacy of his picks). Think that gave Afghans renewed confidence in their government?

Kabul was rocked by blasts as the sound of gunfire filled the streets Suspected Taliban militants have launched an attack in the Afghan capital Kabul, setting off explosions and sparking a gun battle. The fighting erupted near the Serena Hotel and presidential palace, although Afghan President Hamid Karzai says security has now been restored. The Taliban said 20 of its fighters were involved. Two civilians and three security personnel have been killed plus 71 others wounded, officials say. Seven attackers had also been killed, Interior Minister Mohammad Hanif Atmar said.

The Taliban attack in Kabul is reportedly winding down. The assault began around 9:35 a.m. local time Jan. 18 (the day the new Cabinet was being sworn in) when reports of rocket fire and explosions were heard in the Afghan capital near several government buildings. Just 23 minutes later, reports emerged that the Taliban had claimed the attack in a message to the Afghan Islamic Press. In the claim, Taliban spokesman Zabihollah Mojahed said 20 suicide assailants were attacking the Presidential Palace, the Central Bank and the Ministries of Finance, Justice and Mines and Industries. The Serena Hotel, the Defense...

Despite the lingering demonstrations and disorder in Tehran, Iran’s ruling mullahs are confident anew in their country’s ability to surge to a hegemonic position in the Middle East without a major war. The main reason for the mullahs’ confidence is their interpretation of the appeasement policies of the US Barack Obama Administration. Most significant is the undeclared – yet widely projected – profound change in US policy regarding Iran’s nuclear program. Tehran and all other regional governments are convinced that the US now strives to “contain” a nuclear Iran rather than continue the declared objective to prevent the nuclearization of...