Kabul - Five policemen were killed and the top criminal department police chief was wounded in blasts on the western outskirts of the capital Kabul, the interior ministry spokesman said Wednesday.
Ali Shah Paktiawal, head of the criminal department of the Kabul city police, was wounded in a blast in the Company area, some 10 kilometres from the city centre, on Wednesday morning when he was inspecting the scene of an overnight attack against a police post in the area, Zemarai Bashary, interior ministry spokesman, said.
London, Sep 24: The US said today that an additional 14,000 troops could soon be deployed in Afghanistan, signaling the biggest military reinforcement in the country since the war began.
US Defence Secretary Robert Gates told the Senate Armed Services Committee that up to three combat brigades, each including about 3,500 soldiers, could be sent to Afghanistan by mid-2009.
They would bolster an additional 3,700 ground troops recently promised by President Bush for January, The Times reported.
Gates warned, however, that a troop “surge” could be counter-productive in a country with a historic resistance to outsiders.
Islamabad, Sept 24 : If Pakistan intelligence officials are to be believed, the country’s security forces shot down a suspected US military drone close to the Afghan border last night. If true, it would be the first US pilot-less aircraft brought down by Pakistan.
The aircraft was reportedly hit at the village of Jalal Khel in South Waziristan after it made several rounds of the area for several hours. Wreckage was strewn on the ground, said the Pakistan intelligence sources.
Kabul, Sept 23 : More than 140 Afghan labourers abducted in western Afghanistan over the weekend might be freed, said a Provincial official today.
According to The Mirror, the Taliban insurgents have promised to free the labourers after their investigation has been completed.
Deputy Provincial Governor, Mohammad Younus Rasooli said, “Three labourers have been released so far and the rest will be freed by the end of the day."
"The Taliban say they will release all of them when their investigation is complete," Rasooli added.
The labourers, working for a construction firm in Bala Boluk district in Farah province, were kidnapped by insurgents on Sunday while they were travelling in three buses.
New York, Sept 23 : The US administration must put its weight behind the new civilian government in Islamabad to bolster its efforts to strike against terrorists in its territory, to keep alive any realistic hope of wining the war against terror in Afghanistan and bordering tribal areas in Pakistan.
According to an editorial in the New York Times, newly-elected Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari should be extended American help to fight back militancy. It described Zardari as a political novice who faced serious corruption charges.
Kabul - Afghan foreign ministry said Tuesday that it was sending a team to Islamabad to work with Pakistani officials to secure the release of its diplomat, who was kidnapped by unknown gunmen near the shared border.
"A delegation from the foreign ministry is on its way to Islamabad to work closely with Pakistani officials," the ministry said in a statement.
Afghan designated ambassador to Pakistan, Abdul Khaleq Farahi, was dragged out of his car in Hayatabad locality of the provincial capital Peshawar on Monday by unidentified gunmen and taken to an unknown location.
The men fatally shot Farahi's driver after they left his office and were heading home.
Kabul - Five policemen were killed and the top criminal department police chief was wounded in blasts on the western outskirts of the capital Kabul, the interior ministry spokesman said Wednesday.
