Taliban attacks on roadways spread path of fear among Afghans

KABUL — Taliban militants are sowing fear along Afghanistan’s highways with stepped-up checkpoints, hijackings and bombs — including one Tuesday that killed at least 30 bus passengers in the south.

Officials: 2 suspected US missile strikes kill 13 militants in volatile northwest Pakistan

PARACHINAR, Pakistan — Two missile attacks killed 13 militants in northwestern Pakistan’s tribal belt Tuesday in the latest apparent strikes of a covert U.S. program that American officials are considering intensifying.

Blast targeting Afghan powerbroker outside girls’ school kills 4; Taliban claim responsibility

KABUL — Police say four people have been killed in an explosion targeting Afghanistan’s energy minister outside a school in the country’s west. A Taliban official is claiming responsibility.

President, NATO secretary general to hold White House meeting

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama meets at the White House today with NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen (AHN’-derz FOHG RAHS’-moo-sihn).

British defense chief says UK can play only small role in any troop surge in Afghanistan

BRIGHTON, England — Britain’s defense secretary said Monday that the U.K. has only limited scope to send more troops to Afghanistan, despite calls from military leaders to support U.S. Gen. Stanley McChrystal’s demand for extra soldiers.

12 Afghan civilians killed in insurgent ambush, roadside bomb, government says

KABUL — A Taliban ambush on a highway left six truckers dead, and a roadside bomb killed another six Afghans in a crowded van, the government said Monday — the latest sign that insurgent violence is spreading across the countryside.

Targeted by suicide bomb, Afghan Cabinet minister threatens to quit post, deplores insecurity

KABUL — A powerful member of President Hamid Karzai’s Cabinet threatened to quit after a suicide car bomb attack targeted him Sunday, killing five people, in the latest Taliban attempt to destabilize Afghanistan’s struggling government. Two Americans were among six NATO troop deaths elsewhere.

UN envoy says Afghanistan war effort facing “decision time”

UNITED NATIONS — A top U.N. envoy warned Tuesday that Afghanistan was facing “decision-time,” including certification of results of the flawed presidential elections and its decision on whether to pursue a peace process with the rebels to try to end the country’s eight-year-old war.

French military: 3 French soldiers killed in storm in Afghanistan

PARIS — Officials in France say three French soldiers have been killed in a violent storm in northeastern Afghanistan.

Taliban hijackings, bomb attacks on roadways spread path of fear among civilians in Afghanistan

KABUL — Taliban militants are sowing fear along Afghanistan’s highways with stepped-up checkpoints, hijackings and bombs — including one Tuesday that killed at least 30 bus passengers in the south. Afghan authorities say the attacks, often carried out by only a handful of militants, are part of a psychological campaign to convince civilians that Taliban control is spreading.

UN Afghan envoy warns against “simplistic” plans for pacifying Taliban rebels

UNITED NATIONS — The top U.N. official in Afghanistan is cautioning against “simplistic” efforts to split the Taliban insurgency by buying off rank-and-file rebels while militarily confronting hardcore elements.

Afghan government says 12 civilians killed by Taliban attack, roadside bomb

KABUL — Insurgents killed 12 Afghan civilians in the east and north — half in an ambush on a group of truck drivers and half when a van hit a roadside bomb, the government said Monday.

Shortcomings in enforcement allow Saudi individuals and charities to aid Islamic extremists

WASHINGTON — Shortcomings in enforcement are allowing Saudi individuals and charitable organizations to steer financial support to Islamic extremists in Afghanistan and elsewhere, congressional investigators say.

Military operation in Afghan west kills at least 30 Taliban; 12 civilians die elsewhere

KABUL — A U.S. team working with Afghan soldiers swooped in on a militant stronghold in the country’s west, killing at least 30 Taliban fighters, U.S. and Afghan officials said Monday. Elsewhere, a Taliban highway ambush left six truckers dead, and a roadside bomb killed another six Afghans in a crowded van.

Officials say 2 missile strikes in Pakistani border regions kill 13 militants

PARACHINAR, Pakistan — Officials say two suspected U.S. missile strikes in northwest Pakistan have killed 13 militants.

3 French soldiers killed in Afghan storm; another dies in road accident

PARIS — Three French soldiers were killed Sunday in a violent storm in northeastern Afghanistan, while another was killed when an armored vehicle fell into a ravine, French officials said.

At least 773 US military deaths in Afghanistan region since 2001, Defense Department says

As of Thursday, Oct. 1, 2009, at least 773 members of the U.S. military had died in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan as a result of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001, according to the Defense Department. The department last updated its figures Thursday at 10 a.m. EDT.

Merkel roars to 2nd term, new coalition in German election thanks to strong ally

BERLIN — Final results confirm that Chancellor Angela Merkel has won a second term and a majority for a new center-right government in Germany’s parliamentary election.

12 Afghan civilians killed after bus hits roadside bomb

KABUL — A roadside bomb blast in southern Afghanistan has killed 12 civilians.

McCain takes on uphill fight to kill $2.5 billion for additional C-17 cargo jets

WASHINGTON — While ceding some ground to President Obama on high-profile weapons cuts, lawmakers are cutting money for training and spare parts to pay for other weapons Obama doesn’t want and their own pet projects.

NATO leader agrees that troop decision should follow strategy review in Afghanistan

WASHINGTON — As the White House began Tuesday to debate in earnest the increasingly unpopular Afghanistan war, NATO’s secretary-general said President Barack Obama is right to delay troop decisions until a possibly revamped approach is devised.

US official: Clinton says Karzai government must earn Afghans’ trust by addressing fraud claim

NEW YORK — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Monday that Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s government must earn the trust of the Afghan people by addressing claims of serious fraud in last month’s elections.

Venezuela’s Chavez praises Gadhafi, both leaders sign declaration condemning terrorism

PORLAMAR, Venezuela — Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi signed a declaration Monday night decrying what they call attempts by powerful Western countries to equate struggles against colonialism with terrorism.

Al-Qaida’s Zawahri calls Obama a ‘fraud’ for failing to stop Israel’s settlements

CAIRO — Al-Qaida’s deputy leader on Monday seized upon President Barack Obama failure to bring about a freeze in Israeli settlement construction in the West Bank and called him a “fraud” in a new audio message.

Merkel wins 2nd term, new coalition in German election; rival Steinmeier crushed

BERLIN — German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Sunday won the center-right majority that eluded her four years ago — nudging Europe’s biggest economic power to the right as it claws its way out of a deep recession.

Officials: Suspected US missile strike on Taliban base kills 6 militants in NW Pakistan

DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan — A missile killed six Taliban fighters in northwest Pakistan on Tuesday, intelligence officials said, apparently the latest strike in a covert U.S. program that American officials are considering intensifying.

NATO’s secretary-general: Obama right to do ’strategy first, then resources’ for Afghanistan

WASHINGTON — NATO’s secretary-general said Tuesday President Barack Obama is right to decide strategy first, then resources for Afghanistan and said he’s confident that U.S. and allied troops will remain “as long as it takes.”

NATO’s secretary general says more Afghan training and equipment needed for conflict

WASHINGTON — NATO’s secretary general on Monday said “things are going to have to change” in Afghanistan for the United States and its international allies to win the stalemated war.

Suspected US missile kills 6 in Pakistan, third attack in 24 hours

ISLAMABAD — A suspected U.S. missile attack killed six alleged militants in Pakistan just over the border from Afghanistan on Wednesday, intelligence officials said, the third such strike on the al-Qaida and Taliban stronghold in 24 hours.

Afghan Cabinet minister escapes bombing that kills 4; Taliban claim responsibility

KABUL — An explosion targeting Afghanistan’s energy minister outside a girls school killed four civilians in the country’s far west, police said. A Taliban official claimed responsibility for the Sunday morning blast.