Middle East, Islamabad | featured news

A Pakistani airliner with 131 people on board crashed in bad weather near Islamabad's international airport on Friday, a civil aviation official said.

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."

Some lawmakers believe Osama bin Laden presence Pakistan may have frayed ties with the United States beyond repair, Senator John Kerry told Islamabad on Monday, but added that their strategic relationship was too important to let go.

Pakistan's Washington lobbyists have launched an intense campaign on Capitol Hill to counter accusations that Islamabad was complicit in giving refuge to Osama bin Laden.

An explosion apparently caused by a suicide bomber in the lobby of the World Food Program office in Islamabad killed at least three people.