Washington, Feb 2 : Pakistan has long viewed the various Islamic ilitias it created and helped fund -- including the Taliban -- as useful eapons in its arsenal, low-cost ways to keep its historic foes, India and Afghanistan off balance.

According to Fareed Zakaria, the editor of Newsweek International, when the United States invaded Afghanistan, it did not defeat al-Qaeda and its supporters among the Taliban. They simply fled to Pakistan, their original home.

For Islamabad to genuinely renounce these groups, therefore, it would require a fundamental strategic rethinking within the Pakistani military.

Kabul  - Following nearly 20 per cent reduction in poppy cultivation in 2008, a joint Afghan and United Nations survey released Sunday predicted a further decrease in cultivation this year, but said the illegal crop was still mostly grown in the volatile southern region.

"I am pleased to announce that during 2009 a further decrease in poppy cultivation is expected," General Khoaidad, Afghan minister of counter narcotics told reporters in a press conference in Kabul.

Kabul  - A suicide bomber detonated his vehicle near a NATO-led Turkish military convoy in Kabul city Sunday, killing himself and wounding two civilians, but causing no troop casualties, police said.

The attack took place in Company, an area on the western outskirts of Kabul, Sunday morning as the Turkish convoy was coming from the neighbouring province of Wardak, deputy provincial police chief Alishah Ahmadzai said.

"The bomber detonated his taxi car before reaching the convoy," Ahmadzai said. "The blast wounded two of our innocent people who were passing by the area at the time of the attack, but according to our information no one was hurt in the convoy."

Kabul  - A suicide bomber detonated his vehicle near a NATO-led Turkish military convoy in Kabul city Sunday, killing himself and wounding two civilians, but causing no troop casualties, police said.

The attack took place in Company, an area on the western outskirts of Kabul, Sunday morning as the Turkish convoy was coming from the neighbouring province of Wardak, deputy provincial police chief Alishah Ahmadzai said.

"The bomber detonated his taxi car before reaching the convoy," Ahmadzai said. "The blast wounded two of our innocent people who were passing by the area at the time of the attack, but according to our information no one was hurt in the convoy."

Kabul  - A Canadian soldier was killed in a roadside attack and US soldiers killed an Afghan tribal chief and wounded another civilian who approached their convoy in a south-eastern province, officials said Sunday.

The soldier was killed when his vehicle was struck by a roadside bomb in Zherai district of southern Kandahar province on Saturday, the Canadian defence ministry said in a statement.

Sapper Sean Greenfield from 2 Combat Engineer Regiment was the second soldier to die in Afghanistan this year, bringing the Canadian military's death toll to 108 since their deployment to the country in 2002.

London, Feb 1 : The head of the British armed forces has said that any chance of restoring peace in Afghanistan depends on sorting out Pakistan first, as US drone attacks are not helping.

Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup, the Chief of the Defence Staff and a former head of the RAF, told The Times: "Only if Pakistan is sorted out will there be any chance of sorting out Afghanistan, although exactly what success will look like is less than clear."