AFGHANISTAN

Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao said on Monday that Indian concerns about militant groups based in Pakistan would form the main focus of her talks on Thursday with her Pakistani counterpart.

A NATO airstrike in southern Afghanistan has killed 33 people after an aircraft fired on civilians mistakenly thought to be insurgents, the Afghan government said on Monday.

Al Qaeda aims to infiltrate Central Asia to train militants and turn the ex-Soviet region into a zone of unrest, a U.S. envoy said on Saturday.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai renewed his call on Saturday for the Taliban to accept his peace proposal, after a NATO offensive and the capture of a top Taliban leader raised hopes the group could be more flexible.

Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende's coalition government collapsed on Saturday when the two largest parties failed to agree on whether to withdraw troops from Afghanistan this year as planned.

President Barack Obama on Thursday set up a bipartisan commission to tackle stubborn U.S. budget deficits, though many are skeptical Washington has the stomach right now for the tough remedies needed to address spiraling deficits and debt.

Whenever Afghanistan's Taliban turn up the heat in the battle with U.S. Marines, the troops have to think twice before retaliating or calling in air strikes in order to avoid civilian casualties.

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.

NATO and Afghan troops have hit pockets of stiff resistance in Marjah, the Taliban's main stronghold in southern Afghanistan, and may need another month to fully secure the area, a NATO commander said on Thursday.

It's only been six days since NATO launched a major assault against the Taliban and some Afghans are already asking Marines when they can reopen their shops.

The U.S. aircraft carrier USS Nimitz sailed into Hong Kong on schedule on Wednesday despite a Chinese pledge to suspend military exchanges with the United States after its announced arms sales to Taiwan.

Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Taliban's No. 2 captured in Pakistan last week, was a charismatic military strategist who helped rebuild the group into a powerful guerrilla force after the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan.

Iran's supreme leader accused the United States on Wednesday of war-mongering and of turning the Gulf into an arms depot, hitting back at U.S. accusations that the Islamic state was moving toward a military dictatorship.

The Pakistani military confirmed on Wednesday that the Afghan Taliban's top military commander, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, had been captured.

The Taliban's top military commander was captured in Pakistan, U.S. and Pakistani officials said on Tuesday, but the move may not deal a decisive blow to a group putting up fierce resistance to a NATO offensive in Afghanistan.

Pakistani lawyers for five young Americans accused of contacting militants over the Internet and plotting terrorist attacks sought their release on bail on Tuesday, saying the prosecution lacked evidence.

Iraq is the country most at risk from terrorist attacks for the second straight year, according to a ranking by global analysts Maplecroft, while Thailand has joined the nine countries most in danger for the first time.

The Taliban's top military commander was captured in Pakistan, U.S. and Pakistani officials said on Tuesday, but the move may not deal a decisive blow to a group putting up fierce resistance to a NATO offensive.

The Taliban's top military commander, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, has been captured in Pakistan in a joint raid by Pakistani and U.S. spy agencies, a U.S. official said on Monday, confirming a report of the capture in The New York Times.

U.S. Marines leading one of NATO's biggest offensives against the Taliban in the eight-year war are facing fierce resistance in some areas, including heavy gunfire, snipers and booby traps, U.S. officials said on Monday.

The United States believes Iran may be heading toward a military dictatorship and that its Revolutionary Guard Corps is supplanting its government, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Monday.