Middle East, Taliban | featured news

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.

An airstrike on Sunday killed those believed responsible for downing a Chinook helicopter, a commander said.

Insurgents shot down a helicopter in Afghanistan, killing 30 Americans, most of them belonging to the Navy SEALs unit that killed Osama bin Laden, U.S. officials said.

A U.S. military task force has discovered that part of a $2.16 billion transportation contract was diverted through a murky network of subcontractors and into the hands of a group of Afghan power-brokers, criminals and Taliban insurgents, according to a source with knowledge of the investigation.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai arrived in Pakistan's capital on a trip widely believed to be aimed at seeking Islamabad's help in ending a decade-old Taliban insurgency. According to a senior Pakistani security official, Karzai has told the U.S. that "seeking a military victory in Afghanistan will remain a futile venture without a stepped-up political dialogue with the Taliban."

Surrounded by the din of his multiple families within walls that were both his sanctuary and prison, Osama bin Laden pecked endlessly at a computer, issuing directives to his scattered and troubled terrorist empire. It's not clear who really listened.

Two suicide bombers attacked paramilitary police recruits heading home after months of training in this country's northwest, killing 80 people Friday in what the Pakistani Taliban called vengeance for the U.S. slaying of Osama bin Laden.

The gathering, which drew 10,000 people, was an frontal attack on the current government’s policies, equating Al Qaeda and the Taliban.

The Taliban said Saturday it is launching a new offensive against foreign troops and Afghan security forces -- and will focus on military bases and convoys.

Testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Gen. David Petraeus says the U.S. has stopped the Taliban's momentum in Afghanistan, but he warns that the gains are 'fragile and reversible' and that hard fighting still lies ahead. Key senators express confidence in the war effort.The U.S.