Afghanistan, Taliban | featured news

An audit says subcontractors on a development project in Afghanistan may have paid more than $5 million to militants for security purposes. Employee fraud is also alleged.Millions of dollars in American taxpayer funds may have been paid to Taliban fighters in southern Afghanistan to provide security for a U.S.

The top American commander in Afghanistan says efforts have begun to start reconciliation talks.

A string of attacks hit Afghanistan's parliamentary election on Saturday, after the Taliban vowed to disrupt a poll that is a crucial test for the credibility of the government and security forces.

Voters in Afghanistan are due to cast their ballots in key parliamentary elections, despite fears of violence and threats from Taliban militants.

Hakimullah Mehsud, a key leader of the Pakistani Taliban, has been charged for his alleged involvement in the killings of seven U.S. citizens at an American military base in Afghanistan in 2009, the U.S. Justice Department announced Wednesday.

A widow, accused of being pregnant, was executed by the Taliban in western Afghanistan, a provincial governor's spokesman said Monday.

Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari warned that the international community was losing the war against the Taliban in Afghanistan, according to an interview published on Tuesday.

General has met sharp resistance from the Afghan president to an American plan to assist villagers in fighting the Taliban on their own.

KANDAHAR (Reuters) - The signature weapon of the Iraq war has established itself as the Taliban's weapon of choice in Afghanistan as well, where roadside bombs have proven to be rudimentary and cheap -- but deadly as ever.

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.