Kabul - One civilian was killed and four wounded in crossfire between coalition forces and Taliban militants in eastern Afghanistan on Friday, while another civilian was killed in a rebel rocket attack against Afghan forces in southern region, officials have said.

Taliban militants attacked a convoy of Afghan and US-led coalition forces in the Pech district of eastern Kunar province on Friday morning, resulting in deaths of one civilian and injuries to four others, the US military said in a statement.

New Delhi, Oct 3 : The Union Cabinet today paved the way for the formal entry of Afghanistan into the South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA).

The Union Cabinet has approved the proposal for ratification of the Protocol of Accession, which will accelerate Afghanistan''s formal joining of the SAFTA.

It will also help in the full implementation of the SAFTA by putting pressure on Pakistan to adhere to South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) norms for the Sensitive List and give transit to Afghanistan.

Kabul, Oct 3: Afghan President Hamid Karzai has reportedly advised the Taliban leader in Afghanistan Mulla Umar to return to Afganistan, and promised him all possible safety.

“I propose Mulla Umar to get back to Afghanistan as I will be wholly solely responsible for his security and I shall be answerable to the whole of the world on his behalf,” The News quoted Karzai as saying in an interview with GEO TV.

Islamabad, Oct 3 : Amid the volatile security situation in Pakistan, especially after the September 20 suicide attack on Hotel Marriott killing 60 people, the United Nations has reportedly declared Islamabad “unsafe” for children of its staff, and equated it (Islamabad) to Afghan Capital Kabul and Somalia.

The UN ordered that the kids of its staff should be withdrawn and put in their respective home countries.

Pakistan’s crumbling security situation was witnessed yesterday when a suicide bomber failed in his attempt to assassinate a prominent anti-Taliban politician. Meanwhile, troops killed around 
27 militants in the restive northwest.

Washington, Oct 2 : A French diplomat in Kabul has reportedly apprised his President Nicholas Sarkozy’s office that British envoy to Afghanistan has strongly opposed the operation by alliance forces there, saying that it would fail and that the best option was to appoint a “dictator” for strife-torn Afghanistan.

Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles, the British envoy, reportedly shared his bleak assessment of the seven-year NATO campaign in Afghanistan in a briefing with a French diplomat, claim French leaks.

Washington, Oct 2: General David McKiernan, the commander of the NATO International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, has reportedly not ruled out holding talks with the Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar for ensuring peace in the country. He also called for enlisting tribes to help achieving the desired objective.

He said that the US-led coalition needed more troops for what, according to him, was increasingly a “tough fight” in eastern and southern Afghanistan.