AFP - The United States said it will give Afghanistan 3.2 billion dollars in aid this year, with more than three-quarters earmarked for boosting the insurgency-racked country's army and police.

AFP - British soldiers in Afghanistan are involved in some of the worst and most prolonged fighting since World War II, the British commander of NATO forces in the country said.

AFP - The United States said it will give Afghanistan 3.2 billion dollars in aid this year, with more than three-quarters earmarked for boosting the insurgency-racked country's army and police.

AFP - Eight policemen and 12 Taliban insurgents died when rebels ambushed a security patrol and a firefight broke out in restive southern Afghanistan, a provincial spokesman said.

AP - Fighting in Afghanistan's south left 12 suspected Taliban and eight police dead, while a roadside bomb Thursday killed an Afghan civilian in an eastern province, officials said.

AP - During its tumultuous past, Afghanistan has been coveted by the British, occupied by the Soviets and ruled by the Taliban.

AFP - Two NATO soldiers were killed in separate accidents in Afghanistan while another was seriously wounded in a clash with insurgents, officials said.

Australia will send 150 more soldiers to Afghanistan to help secure the nation. Australian Prime Minister John Howard says they will bring their commitment to over 600 troops, the majority of which will help protect their engineers in the central Oruzgan province....

AP - Local authorities pleaded Wednesday for emergency relief for thousands of villagers made homeless by heavy rain and flooding that has ravaged provinces in eastern Afghanistan and left at least 35 people dead.

AFP - US-led soldiers and warplanes killed 15 Taliban militants who attacked a coalition compound with rockets and rifles in mountainous eastern Afghanistan.

Reuters - Australia will send an extra 150 troops to Afghanistan due to the deteriorating security situation, Prime Minister John Howard said on Wednesday, briefly boosting Canberra's commitment to Afghanistan to more than 600.

AFP - Australian Prime Minister John Howard is to send 150 more troops to Afghanistan, amid an escalating Taliban-led insurgency in the country's troubled south.

AP - Suspected Taliban militants hanged a woman and her son from a tree after accusing them of spying for the government, while fighting between supporters of rival warlords in northwestern Afghanistan killed four people, officials said Wednesday.

AFP - Australian Prime Minister John Howard is sending further troops to Afghanistan, amid an escalating Taliban-led insurgency there.

AP - NATO troops mistakenly killed an Afghan policeman, the organization said Tuesday.

AFP - The war against drugs in Afghanistan needs a change of strategy because it has been unsuccessful so far, the top United Nations official in the world's biggest heroin-producing country said.

AFP - The international community has proimised not to forget Afghanistan despite the crisis in the Middle East, a senior UN official in the war-torn country said.

AFP - A former British colonel hailed for his impassioned speech to soldiers before the Iraq war has said that British forces in Afghanistan needed far more support if they are to succeed.

AP - Afghanistan's foreign minister urged the world to stem the flow of extremists, weapons and terror funding into the country, as a British soldier was killed and the main base of the NATO-led security force came under rocket attack.

AFP - The last 200 members of a South Korean Christian delegation were due to leave Afghanistan after their planned "peace festival" was called off amid security concerns, a Korean official said.