Afghanistan

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) – U.S.-led coalition soldiers and Afghan forces killed about 50 militants in two days of major fighting near a Taliban-controlled town in southern Afghanistan’s poppy-growing belt, officials Saturday.

KABUL, Oct. 20 (Xinhua) — Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) and the U.S.-led coalition forces during an hours-long operation killed nearly three dozen Taliban fighters Saturday in southern Afghanistan’s Helmand province.

Prime Minister John Howard, Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd and Defence Force head Angus Houston have joined mourners at Brisbane’s Saint Stephen’s Cathedral for the military funeral of trooper David Pearce.

The Canadian government plans to extend the country’s Afghanistan mission until at least 2011 — two years beyond the proposed February 2009 deadline.

KABUL, Afghanistan: A mother who tried to stop her son from carrying out a suicide bomb attack triggered an explosion in the family’s home in southern Afghanistan that killed the would-be bomber, his mother and three siblings, police said.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — When asked about her engagement party this summer, little Sunam glanced blankly at her family, then fiddled with her gold-sequined engagement outfit — a speechless response not out of shyness, but because she does not yet talk much. Sunam is 3.

A suicide bomber killed one policeman and six civilians in southeastern Afghanistan close to the border with Pakistan on Saturday, a police commander said.

WASHINGTON (AFP) – The US Marine Corps reportedly wants to withdraw its entire force from Iraq to focus its combat efforts on Afghanistan.

BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s lower house of parliament on Friday overwhelmingly approved extending the deployment of 3,000 troops and six reconnaissance jets in Afghanistan for another year, despite mounting public skepticism about the mission.

KABUL, Afghanistan – Afghan authorities this week shut down two private security companies and said more than 10 others – some suspected of murder and robbery – would soon be closed, Afghan and Western officials said yesterday.