Three foreign advisers killed in suicide bombing near Kabul airport

KABUL: A Taliban suicide bomber detonated himself on Tuesday outside Kabul International airport, killing three foreign advisers and an Afghan interpreter, police said.

The nationalities of the foreign advisers were not immediately clear.

The explosion comes days after one of the most audacious militant attacks in a year on the airport, which is used by both civilians and the military.

Another Attack Near Karachi Airport, All Flights Suspended

Kabul:  A security checkpost outside Pakistan's Karachi airport was attacked by gunmen on Tuesday, an official spokesman told AFP, a day after an all-night siege by the Taliban left 37 dead.

"Gunmen are exchanging fire with Airport Security Force (ASF) personnel at a checkpost guarding the airport," an ASF spokesman said.

TV footage showed paramilitary vehicles and ambulances racing to the scene of the attack.

Pakistan backs Afghan-led peace process

KABUL - Adviser on Foreign Affairs and National Security Sartaj Aziz on Sunday visited Kabul to hold talks with Afghan leadership and assured that Pakistan would extend its full support and cooperation in holding intra-Afghan talks for peace and stability in Afghanistan.

During his day-long visit, Sartaj Aziz held talks with Afghan Foreign Minister Dr Zalmay Rasul. The two sides discussed ways to further promote bilateral relations and prospects for peace in Afghanistan.

Later addressing a press conference Sartaj Aziz said Pakistan was ready to help in holding of intra-Afghan talks for peace and stability in Afghanistan, if the Afghan leaders asked for it.

Roadside bomb kills 17 villagers in Afghanistan

KABUL: A roadside bomb struck a motorcycle-drawn cart carrying women and children between two villages Tuesday in western Afghanistan, killing all 17 people on board, a grim reminder of the dangers facing Afghan civilians ahead of the 2014 withdrawal of foreign combat troops.

Deadly attack on NATO compound in Kabul

KABUL: Seven people were killed on Tuesday in a suicide car bomb attack in Kabul targeting a foreign logistics company supplying Nato forces, police said.

A plume of smoke rose above the scene of the attack in the north of the Afghan capital, which has been hit by a series of recent suicide strikes including on the Supreme Court, the airport and close to the presidential palace.

Nine children killed in Afghan suicide attack: officials

KABUL: A suicide bomb attack targeting US and Afghan forces killed nine children heading home from school in eastern Afghanistan on Monday, officials said.

One policeman was also killed and two coalition soldiers were among about 16 people wounded, Zalmai Uriakhail, the police chief of Paktia province, told AFP of the attack, which used an explosives-packed motorcycle.

Afghan Taliban confirm talks in Iran

KABUL: A Taliban spokesman has confirmed that the Afghan insurgents have sent a delegation to Iran for three days of talks. The unprecedented meeting signals that Iran could be seeking the role of regional mediator between the Taliban and Kabul.

Spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi said Monday in an email that emissaries from the Taliban's political office met with Iranian officials over the weekend.

Afghan bus crash kills 30, Taliban blamed

KABUL: An official says a bus in southern Afghanistan has collided with the burning wreckage of a truck that was attacked by Taliban insurgents, killing 30 bus passengers.

Omar Zawak, the governor’s spokesman in Helmand province, said the truck was set on fire by Taliban attackers and left burning in the middle of a road, and the bus could not stop in time to avoid smashing into it.

The fiery crash happened about 55 kilometers outside the capital of Helmand province.

Zawak said Friday’s crash also left 11 passengers injured. He said the casualties included men, women and children.

Afghanistan to start exporting crude oil this year

KABUL (Agencies): China’s largest oil company is due to start commercial production of crude oil in Afghanistan shortly, heralding a resource boom that could transform the country’s economy over the next decade, the country’s mining minister said.

Extraction of metals and oil could account for 45% of Afghanistan’s gross domestic product by 2024, Minister of Mines Wahidullah Shahrani told The Wall Street Journal Wednesday on the margins of an investment and mining conference where he is meeting potential investors.

Recent surveys have shown Afghanistan to be endowed with rich unexploited assets, but its security situation could be a sticking point for some investors.

Nearly all of Afghanistan’s recoverable mineral resources, estimated by the U.S. Geological Survey to be worth $1 trillion, are still under the ground, said the minister, who has held the mining portfolio for the past three years.

Kabul, Islamabad holding talks on extradition treaty

PESHAWAR: Afghanistan’s ambassador to Pakistan, Mohammad Umer Daudzai, has said the Afghan and Pakistan governments were holding talks on an extradition treaty that would resolve the problem of handing over wanted persons to each other.
Talking to a small group of reporters during his visit to Peshawar on Wednesday, he pointed out that Afghanistan has signed judicial agreements with Iran and Tajikistan and would like to conclude a similar one with Pakistan. “The judicial agreement covers extradition and also the issue of attorneys and witnesses in legal cases,” he added.

Daudzai recalled that Pakistan had declined to hand over jailed Afghan Taliban figures to Afghanistan citing the absence of an extradition treaty between the two countries. In reply to a question regarding Pakistan’s request to the Afghan government to hand over Pakistani Taliban commander Mauivi Faqir Mohammad to it, he said Kabul was still trying to determine if the man captured in Afghanistan is Faqir Mohammad. “We have assured the Pakistan government that he won’t be released once it was determined that he was indeed Maulvi Faqir Mohammad. However, we won’t be able to hand him over to Pakistan as we don’t have an extradition treaty,” he argued.

Karzai claims victory over US ‘abuse’ claims

KABUL: Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Thursday claimed victory in his latest dispute with the US after accusing its special forces of abusing civilians in the key strategic province of Wardak.

Karzai had demanded that the elite US units leave the province, just outside Kabul. On Wednesday, a deal was stuck in which Afghan forces will take responsibility for security in Nerkh, one of Wardak’s eight districts.

The agreement made no mention of special forces, and the US-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said that it was “business as usual” for its troops in the rest of Wardak.

President Hamid Karzai said he welcomed the announcement that coalition forces were preparing to pull out of the province, which is seen as critical for protecting Kabul from insurgent assaults.

“The decision for withdrawal follows repeated local complaints of harassment and annoyance by the American Special Forces, and a decision by the National Security Council as well as a presidential order,” he said in a statement.