Kabul | featured news

Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta arrived in Kabul Wednesday afternoon to take stock of the war as the Obama administration weighs how quickly to draw down troops over the next two years. The trip, likely his last official visit to the war zone, will give Panetta a chance to consult with U.S. commanders and Afghan President Hamid Karzai about the future U.S. role here as the decade-long war comes to an end.

President Barack Obama marked the anniversary of Osama bin Laden's death with a speedy trip to Afghanistan, signing a strategic pact with Kabul on Wednesday and delivering an election-year message to Americans that the war is winding down.

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.

NATO says 13 service members have been killed in a suicide car bombing in Kabul.

An Afghan employee killed a U.S. citizen and wounded another at an annex of the American Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan, a spokesman said Monday.

Taliban bombers attacked offices belonging to the British Council and the United Nations in the center of the Afghan capital Friday. At least three people were killed, police said.

Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta, who arrived in Kabul on Saturday, also said the American focus had narrowed to capturing or killing key leaders of the terrorist group in Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen.

A suicide bomber blew himself up in downtown Kabul on Sunday killing, three Afghans and raising fears about the prospect of further attacks in the capital as senior diplomats from dozens of nations are scheduled to arrive for an international conference on Tuesday.

A huge explosion shook Afghanistan early Friday.

The death toll from massive avalanches that blocked a mountain pass north of Kabul soared to 157, as hundreds more remained trapped ...