Middle East, Taliban | featured news

Afghanistan's government denied a report on Tuesday that it had been holding secret peace talks with the Taliban's number two leader, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, when he was arrested in Pakistan.

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates told troops in southern Afghanistan on Tuesday they would soon be part of a "decisive phase" in the war -- an operation to impose control over the Taliban heartland of Kandahar province.

U.S. Marines and Afghan soldiers advanced through poppy fields of Marjah on Saturday under withering gunfire from Taliban fighters shooting from mudbrick homes and compounds where families huddled in terror.

A son of the leader of a major Taliban faction attacking Western forces in Afghanistan has been killed in a missile strike by a U.S. drone in Pakistan, security officials said on Friday.

The Taliban’s familiar display of haphazard and ineffective shooting has been punctuated by the work of what would seem to be several well-trained marksmen.

A nine-hour journey covering one mile reveals the danger and complexity of U.S. Marines' effort to wrest control of Marjah from the Taliban in Afghanistan.

U.S. Army soldiers launched a major operation Tuesday in support of a planned U.S.-Afghan attack on the largest Taliban-controlled town in southern Afghanistan.

CAMP LEATHERNECK, Afghanistan (Reuters) - The biggest military operation of U.S.

The Afghan government on Thursday invited the Taliban to a peace council as its Western allies worked out plans to try to end the war in Afghanistan.

After explosions and gun battles rock Kabul for three hours, President Karzai says order is restored. The attack is launched on the day that confirmed Cabinet members are sworn in.

KABUL — Taliban militants struck in the heart of the Afghan capital today, launching suicide attacks on key government targets in a clear sign the insurgents plan to escalate their fight as the U.S. and its allies ramp up a campaign to end the war.